Hello Work!
by Useful Oxymoron
Summary: Sequel to We're all going on a... Summer Holiday. After making a pinky-pact, Nagisa and Shizuma decide to enter the work-force and live purely off their wages for one month. NagisaxShizuma, TamaoxChiyo.
1. Chapter 1 : Family Visit

Hi everyone,

At least, here is the long-awaited sequel to Summer Holiday. I know I really, really should finish up some other stories first before beginning a new one, but this has been floating around my harddrive for the better part of 6 months and it was itching to be released. I also realize that it's never really a good idea to start a new story out with a crossover, but I felt it was correct. In my very first Stopani story, which all my other stories are based on, I had already established that Shizuma had an 'interesting' family, and in a way this is coming full circle. And what can I say, I'm just a sucker for happy endings, especially if the characters in question have had a really tragic life.

So without further ado, I hope you'll enjoy the silly adventures of Shizuma and Nagisa.

* * *

**Hello Work!**

Chapter 1 : Family visit

Shizuma quite often found herself drawn to what she and Nagisa called their memory wall. Thousands of pictures taken were pasted or pinned on the wall in an ever growing collage documenting their happiness. Pictures of them together, one of them, with their friends, on holidays, in their home, wether snapped with camera or phone. Already the pictures covered most of the wall, and they had started on a second layer already.

When asked why they simply didn't put their photos in an album, Shizuma always responded that few people actually opened those albums away and by putting on the wall, she ensured that all of the pictures were in plain sight.

In the middle of the wall was a shelf reserved for framed pictures, containing memories meant to symbolize the most important parts of their lives. The first picture was one of Shizuma as a baby being held by her mother, Hanazono Hoshi. It was often that she was drawn to this picture: her mother hadn't been much older than Shizuma when she had her and they looked so much alike. Shizuma often wondered what her life would be like if her mother would still be alive. Maybe she'd have been a little less wild, or maybe even more. Whichever would have been the case, she'd like to think her mother would have approved of the choices she had made in life.

The second framed picture was one of her at age six and her father. It had been taken on a rare true holiday, when her workaholic father had managed to drag himself away from the office and had taken her to Paris. It was the last true holiday they had, as her father discovered the satellite phone soon afterwards.

The third framed picture had been taken when she had been in her second year. Miyuki had wanted to take a few pictures to send home to her parents, but after they stood posing in front of the camera, Shizuma had shifted and grabbed Miyuki. And that was the captured moment on the picture here: Shizuma grinning like a cheshire cat while having her hands cupping Miyuki's breasts from behind. At the same time, Miyuki was silently wailing in surprise. The camera had also snapped a picture of the moment right after this: Shizuma nursing a red welt on her cheek, while Miyuki was angrily stomping off. Needless to say, Miyuki's parents had never seen either picture.

And the fourth... her and Kaori, smiling happily. Shizuma remembered exactly when this was taken: it was an usually warm and sunny october day and she and Kaori had decided to celebrate this fact with a picnic. Kaori was wearing a bright summer dress and hat, and leaned into Shizuma while holding up two fingers behind her head. Shizuma smiled to herself and let a finger slide across the picture, where Kaori's face was. Though she and Nagisa were very happy together, she would never forget Kaori.

The fifth picture was of her and Nagisa on their wedding day. Nagisa looked cute as a button in her dress, and Shizuma as nervous as a high-strung whippet in hers. Shizuma shook her head and relived the memory.

The sixth and final one had been taken right after they had moved into their new apartment. Though the expensive apartment was delivered finished, they decided to scrap the standard furniture and bring in their own, as well as adding finishing touches. The picture showed both Nagisa and Shizuma kissing while dressed in baggy coveralls and having their exposed hair and skin was mottled with white-wash.

So many happy memories. And the shelf was far from full: there was plenty of room still, and Shizuma and Nagisa had plenty of plans for their future. They had been talking about adoption a lot recently, though of course, graduation was their first priority.

"Shizuma!" Nagisa called from the kitchen. "I'm done setting up, could you help out?"

Deciding to leave her memories for what they where for now, Shizuma made her way to the kitchen where Nagisa had already been cooking while Shizuma had been tidying up. Nagisa focused on creating the main course while Shizuma was assigned for the appetizers and deserts.

Shizuma was, in fact, an excellent cook and she could follow proper instructions to the letter. Unfortunately, when there were no proper instructions for Shizuma to follow, she'd lose her confidence and always messed things up.

"This rice is already cooked," Nagisa said, while the two brushed lips for a moment. "Will you start by rolling the maki? I already chilled another batch of rice for it."

Shizuma turned to the part of the kitchen and to her delight found the entire kitchen outfitted with yellow post-its with numbered instructions and arrows. Filled with confidence, Shizuma strolled over and looked for the first instruction.

_1. Take a sheet of sea-weed._

_2. Lay it out on the cutting board._

_3. Spread the rice evenly along the center of the sheet._

_4. Open the cabinet door._

_5. Be careful not to hit your head while you open the door._

"Funny," Shizuma said while Nagisa giggled briefly.

Preparations for dinner went swimmingly from there. Of course, there was a reason Nagisa and Shizuma went all out to clean up and prepare dinner, rather than just leaving all their mess on the floor, curl up on the couch with a pizza and watch crappy dubbed American sitcoms while holding each other tightly, as college students tended to do: Shizuma's cousin Kouta and his girlfriend were coming over.

As the time passed, Nagisa grew more and more nervous as Shizuma grew more and more excited. For Shizuma, it would be the first time that she'd see her cousin Kouta ever since her wedding. Kouta's weird girlfriend was the bone of contention between the two of them, however. Shizuma merely found her strange, while Nagisa was actually quite afraid of her.

The two of them were on a cross-country tour through Japan and were in the neighborhood for a couple of days. Kouta had announced his visit and had planned to stay at a hotel, but Shizuma would hear nothing of it: family was family, so he and Lucy were staying at the apartment for the duration of their stay.

Shizuma agreed that Lucy was a little strange, but it was obvious that Kouta loved her very much, so Shizuma wasn't worried.

Just as they added the finishing touches to the meal, the doorbell signified the arrival of their guests. Shizuma rushed to the front door, while Nagisa came out of the kitchen and quickly removed her apron.

"Shizuma-chan," Kouta greeted and the two cousins shared a brief hug.

"Kouta-kun," Shizuma replied. "You look well."

And he did. Kouta was as much the spirited and kind-hearted boy she had known and played with when they were still kids, always with a ready smile and a kind word. Behind him, looking rather uneasy, was his girlfriend.

"I feel well," Kouta said. "Lucy?"

With careful strides, Lucy stepped into the living room and gently removed her shoes by stepping on her heels. She slid into the slippers at the side of the mat. Nagisa and Shizuma bowed gently in greeting, which Lucy answered with a brief nod.

Lucy stepped into the room and followed the others to the couch. Shizuma noticed Lucy was carefully looking around the room as if to study the layout for possible escape routes.

"The food is about done, we only need to set it on the table," Nagisa said, and Shizuma could hear the tremble in Nagisa's voice.

"Ah, that means we'll have some time to chat about your cross-country tour over dinner," Shizuma said.

Lucy in the meantime, had sat down close to Kouta. Shizuma could clearly see that Lucy was slightly taller than Kouta. The girl had long dark pink hair, bordering on blood red, and the unkempt hair hung over the side of her face, almost completely covering one of her eyes when she sat a certain way. She wore a stylish dress and an oversized red baret on her head.

Just then, Lucy noticed Shizuma was looking at her. One piercing eye shot in Shizuma's direction, making the silver-maned girl feel as if Lucy was looking right through her. The tension in the air was mounting quickly.

"Lucy-chan," Kouta said, apparently feeling the hostility. "You can take off the baret if you like. They already know, remember?"

Lucy seemed wary, but removed the baret, revealing the tip of two short horns on the side of her head. Lucy oddly resembled a catgirl... but Shizuma wisely decided not to say that out loud. Kouta had told her that these horns were the result of a birth defect which had plagued Lucy all her life. Of course, Shizuma had known Kouta long enough to know when he wasn't telling the whole story. Lucy, in the meantime, looked at both Shizuma and Nagisa in such a way as if to say that terrible things would happen if they'd dare to say something about her horns.

After dinner had been set up, the foursome sat down at the table. Dinner started out in awkward silence. Kouta however, did his best to create a pleasant atmosphere and partially succeeded. Shizuma smiled when Kouta told them about the places they had visited. Nagisa was particularly animated when Kouta told them about their trip to Kyoto, where he and Lucy stayed at a traditional Ryokan and explored the rustic countryside.

Though Kouta did his best to include her in the conversation, Lucy said scant but a few words before withdrawing in herself again. As a result Kouta was doing all the talking, while Lucy was constantly withdrawn.

_'That's an understatement,' _Shizuma thought to herself. _'If she'd be any more withdrawn, she'd be comatose.'_

But Shizuma decided she couldn't blame Lucy. Even though the two made eye-contact only briefly, it was enough for her to see someone whom had lost her innocence far earlier than any person should have. Yet whenever Lucy looked at Kouta, Shizuma could see the light in her eyes changing ever so slightly. Buried beneath the many years of pain, anger and loneliness in her young life, lay an ever so slight glimmer of hope that was ignited by Kouta's presence. Though it was certain that there was a long road ahead of him, if anyone would be able to heal this girl's heart it would be Kouta.

Romantic, really.

"Shizuma?" Kouta smiled, apparently having caught Shizuma´s stare. "If I wouldn't know any better, I'd say you were hitting on my Lucy."

"Hm?" Shizuma replied.

"Eeeeehhhh?" was Nagisa's reaction.

The only thing Lucy did was to flash Shizuma a rather disapproving rise of the eyebrow.

_'Well_,' Shizuma grinned inwardly. _'At least we've established that Lucy-san isn't gay.'_

Lucy deliberately sat at the end of the table and tended to avoid eyecontact. The one eye that could be seen through the curtain of dark pink hair darted back and forth between Kouta, the balcony and the door, as if she was constantly checking an escape route for herself and Kouta.

Another concern was Nagisa, who was getting more and more nervous because of Lucy's suspicious behavior. Eventually, Shizuma saw both girls staring at each other when they thought the other girl wasn't looking.

Finally, it was Lucy who slammed down her chopsticks and spoke in a low, confrontational voice: "Are you staring at my horns, Nagisa-san?"

Nagisa gasped and Shizuma swore she could hear Nagisa's teeth clattering. "Uh, n-no, no, not at all!" she stumbled.

"You were," Lucy said coldly and narrowed her eyes. "You were staring at my horns..."

"N-no, I just..."

"I'm not some freak for you to stare at for your amusement!" Lucy snarled.

"I... I didn't... I mean, I... I wouldn't..." Nagisa literally shook in her chair.

It was at this point that Shizuma had to act, if only to prevent Nagisa from running to her and hiding behind her back. "Come on, I'm sure she didn't mean anything bad, Lucy-san. I know my Nagisa and she is one of the kindest persons."

"They're good people, Lucy," Kouta said, as if used to this. "You can trust them."

At that point, Nagisa stood up and rushed into the kitchen. For a moment, Shizuma thought Nagisa's bravery had run it's course, but soon enough Nagisa returned from the kitchen.

"Here," Nagisa said and presented Lucy with a small chocolate cake. "I was saving this, but I wanted to give this to you now as an apology. I didn't mean to stare, it just happened. I'm sorry."

A look of genuine surprise crossed Lucy's features for a moment. "Thank you," she finally said and took the cake.

"Good guess," Kouta whispered to Shizuma. "Lucy really likes chocolate."

Thankfully, Nagisa's action had lightened the mood considerably. The rest of dinner went on without incident, and Kouta told them quite animatedly about their adventures on Hokkaido. That is, until the moment came to clean off the table.

"Kouta?" Shizuma asked her cousin. "Will you help me clean up? I'm sure Nagisa could keep Lucy busy for a while.

_'Nooooo! Don't leave me alone with her!'_ Nagisa's eyes pleaded while Shizuma and Kouta stepped into the kitchen.

* * *

Kouta gave some of the plates a bit of a rinse at the sink before handing them to Shizuma. Shizuma, in turn, placed them in the dishwasher.

"Thanks for having us over, Shizuma," Kouta said sincerely.

"Hey, what's family for? We're cousins after all," Shizuma told him.

"Thrice removed..." Kouta chuckled.

"Removed or not, a cousin is still a cousin," Shizuma said resolutely. "I have precious little family as it is, so I'm happy to have you around."

"Still, you didn't really need to put us up for the weekend. I'm grateful. And so is Lucy, even if she doesn't show it."

"I'll see if I can get us some tickets to the theatre tomorrow," Shizuma said. "There's some good Kabuki this month."

"That sounds nice," Kouta smiled then seemed thoughtful for a moment. "I thought this cross-country tour through Japan might be good for her, you know? Lucy's got such deeply rooted trust-issues... I thought that it'd be nice to be among other people, perhaps when she's in places when nobody knows her, she'd open up a little more."

"Did it help?"

"Yes and no," Kouta smiled. "She never lets her guard down unless we're alone somewhere, but she's a little looser than she usually is. But at least she's happy to see a little more of the world, I suppose."

"Lucy seems... tense all the time," Shizuma said. "There's a lot of anger in her, probably because of those insecurities you mentioned. Has this got something to do with her birth-defect?"

"Birth-defect?" Kouta frowned, but then quickly recovered. "Oh, yes, _THAT_ birth-defect! Of course, how silly of me. Well, maybe..."

Shizuma raised an eyebrow, but let it pass. "Kids can be cruel. I've no doubt Lucy got teased terribly at school because of her horns."

"If only you knew..." Kouta muttered under his breath.

Shizuma put down the plate and turned to Kouta. "So," she asked. "When are you going to tell me just what exactly happened to Lucy and what your role in it is, hm?"

Kouta smiled briefly. "I could never fool you, Shizuma. But, please... don't pry. The less you know, the better. For me, for Lucy and for yourself. It's a closed chapter anyway as far as we're concerned. I'm sorry, but I won't say anything more."

"Very well," Shizuma smirked. "Keep your secrets for now. I'll pry them out of you one day, I swear."

"You always could when we were still kids," Kouta sighed. "Sure, people say Lucy is weird or withdrawn or dangerous, but... I love her and I'll fight to be with her."

"Trust me," Shizuma smiled. "I know what that's like. Come, let's serve the icecream. And let's see if your Lucy hasn't horribly murdered my Nagisa yet."

Unfortunately, Shizuma's innocent little joke didn't have the desired effect. Instead, Kouta looked at her with utter seriousness in his piercing eyes. His hands shot out and laid on Shizuma's shoulders. "Shizuma," he spoke harshly. "Don't even joke about that. Not ever!"

Shizuma was a bit taken aback by Kouta's reaction. "Alright," she said, still partially stunned by the intensity of her normally so gentle cousin Kouta's words. "I won't."

"Gomen, I know you meant well, it's just that..." he offered and looked away briefly. "Never mind. Shall we go back inside?"

Shizuma and Kouta returned to the living room to find a scene that neither of them expected. Lucy was sitting at the table, calmer than she had been all evening. She was holding and petting the pet cat Maneki while listening intently at a story that a rather animated Nagisa was regaling her with.

"... so the three of us just ran as fast as our legs could carry us and then we ended up ducking into the forest and ran all the way to the lake, panting. And then Tamao-chan said _'Well, let's not do that again'. _And then Chiyo-chan said _'I didn't want to do that in the first place' _and I just laughed. Needless to say, all three of us avoided Kaname-san like the plague for the next month or so."

A hint of a smile tugged at Lucy's lips, while the sole eye that was visible through the thick coverage of pink hair hanging over her face shone with humor.

"Oh, hi, you're back," Nagisa smiled. "I was just telling Lucy-san some stories of Astraea Hill. I was about to tell the story about the time I baked cookies for Shizuma and I ended up crushing them not once but twice."

"Nice to see you two getting along," Kouta smiled and took a moment to kiss Lucy on the top of her head.

"Why would we not get along?" Lucy asked.

No one was more surprised than Kouta when Nagisa unexpectedly wrapped her arms around Lucy for a quick hug.

Well, maybe Lucy was. And Kouta knew how much Lucy hated surprises... Kouta closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he half expected to see Lucy acting on instinct and lashing out with her vectors, spreading Nagisa's blood, limbs and internal organs in a neat even pattern all across the back wall.

The nightmare scenario didn't happen, fortunately. Lucy merely stood there, stunned and stiff as a board and let it happen to her.

"Why did you just do that?" Kouta asked Nagisa, perhaps a little too harshly.

"You just looked like you needed a hug," Nagisa told Lucy. Lucy frowned, but said nothing.

"Nagisa?" Shizuma said while holding up a piece of paper. "I finally found the drawing little Futaba sent me in the mail. I was looking for it all day and it somehow ended up in the trash."

Nagisa grumbled somewhat while Shizuma pinned it back up on the board. "And it's trash-day tomorrow, imagine that. If I hadn't found it today, it'd been gone forever!"

"Yes," Nagisa said in a low voice. "Such a shame."

The two lovers stepped into the living room sat down on the couch. They looked at the balcony for a while, where Kouta and Lucy stood overlooking the city while holding each other while Lucy had her head lain on his shoulder. Shizuma and Nagisa's apartment was on the second floor and overlooked the park on one side and part of the ocean on the other side. The view was one of the reasons Shizuma had opted to purchase it.

"Oh, just a moment," Shizuma took out her cellphone. "Hello? Fu Manchu Theatre? Yes, I am looking for four tickets for tomorrow night's Kabuki show. Hm? Sold out? No problem. Check your listings for a Hanazono Shizuma. Sure, I'll wait. Hm... Hm-hmm... Ah, yes, it's not problem to pay extra at such a short notice. Will do. Ah, so it's all in order? Thank you."

Shizuma clicked off the phone. "There we go," she smiled. "They always keep extra tickets handy for VIP's. I only had to pay ten times the original price, but that's not a problem."

Nagisa looked at her with somewhat faraway look.

"Hey, cheer up," Shizuma said. "Kabuki tomorrow night!"

"You did it again, Shizuma," Nagisa sighed.

"Did what?"

"You know. Using your money and your influence to get what you want."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Shizuma raised an eyebrow.

"Yes... I mean, no, I..." Nagisa shook her head. "It's just... it makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm just girl from a middle class family and you're a billionaire heiress, it's just that... You take me to the most expensive restaurants, the most expensive hotels all over the world and... I'm grateful, don't get me wrong. I get more opportunities than most people my age. But... it makes me feel like a gold-digger, Shizuma."

Shizuma took her hand and squeezed gently. She looked at her wife's wedding-ring and it was indicative if her feelings: when they were first engaged, Shizuma had bought her an extremely expensive engagement ring studded with all manner of precious stones. Shizuma had intended to buy an even more expensive wedding ring. Nagisa, however, had been too afraid to actually wear the engagement ring anywhere for fear of losing it. So instead of it being worn with love and pride, Nagisa had opted to keep it in a safe-deposit box in the bank where it was to this very day. So, Shizuma had settled to getting her a much simpler wedding ring, which Nagisa would and could actually wear.

"We've talked about this before, Nagisa," Shizuma spoke in a reassuring tone of voice. "It's okay. All that is mine is yours."

"I know," Nagisa said. "But I think that's why it's so important for me to find a job. I've been looking at some applications in the paper. I think it'll good for me to have that little bit of independence."

"I remember you telling me back at the Ryokan, that I don't know what it's like to have to earn money," Shizuma said. "How about I get a job too? The same one as yours, so we can still spend our time together?"

"Really?" Nagisa asked.

"Really."

"Why don't we make it more interesting?" Nagisa smiled. "How about we only live off the money we make from our jobs for a whole month? I think it'd be a good experience of both of us. But only if you're sure, Shizuma. It might be a bit difficult for you."

"Sure, pffft," Shizuma mock-scoffed. "I'm Hanazono Shizuma. Difficult isn't in my dictionary."

"You're really, really sure?"

Shizuma grinned and held out her pinky. Nagisa smiled and clasped her own pinky around Shizuma's to settle the pact. "Done," Shizuma said. "For one month, we only live off the money we make from our jobs."

"Shizuma, look!" Nagisa smiled and pointed over to the balcony, where Kouta and Lucy were in the middle of a loving kiss. Shizuma nodded and treated her wife to a loving kiss of their own.

* * *

The next morning with the sun just up, Nagisa was the first to have risen. They had had great fun with their guests the previous evening: just hanging loose, chatting and playing games on Nagisa's wii. So, Nagisa decided to get up early. After disentangling herself from a very possessive sleeping Shizuma, she had fixed a quick breakfast for Lucy and Kouta which she carried on a tray.

She knocked on the door, bumped it open with her hip and walked right in. "Rise and shine," she said. "A lovely surprise breakf... OH MY GOD!" she shouted, dropped the tray and ran out the door. "Sorry, sorry! So sorry! I didn't see anything, I swear! Oh, god..."

About half an hour later, a second breakfast had been prepared and the four of them were gathered around the table. Both Kouta and Nagisa were blushing brightly and were avoiding each other's gaze, while Lucy was doing her utmost to look dignified in silence. Shizuma, in the meantime, was grinning wickedly.

"It's okay," Shizuma said. "Nagisa and I had sex tonight too."

Kouta and Nagisa were suddenly locked in a silent scream, while Lucy shook her head. "You're not helping," she said.

"I wasn't even trying," Shizuma chuckled. "But I got a fun idea for us to do while we wait for Kabuki. Once you come out of your embarrassed state, that is."

And so the foursome ended up at Takashi's apartment, along with all their other friends for their weekly Dungeons and Dragons game. After having had so much fun with it at the Ryokan that summer, they had decided to continue the tradition, and all of those involved were more than happy to do so.

Since the game was with so many people, they had opted for a sit-down on the tatami-mats or on the futons conveniently placed around the game-board. Kaname and Momomi were sitting close to each other and often whispered tactics. Kaname had kept word about wanting to let her hair grow out, as her raven mane was now of shoulder-length and from the way Momomi was continuously stroking it, it was obvious she approved.

Chikaru and Shion were giggling about something. The two of them were in the middle of wedding preparations and unfortunately for them, both their families were getting way too involved. The planning of their wedding was costing them both a lot of energy and they were grateful for a fun distraction.

Nagisa was still levelling her character on the sheet with the help of Takashi, while Shizuma was observing Lucy and Kouta still trying to make sense of what was on their character sheet. Lucy, however, seemed slightly less withdrawn today. She had however, opted to wear her baret just in case.

Kouta's character was that of a true neutral gnome swashbuckler, while Lucy had picked a chaotic evil Warforged necromancer as her character. Already, she had an in-game rapport with Chikaru's chaotic evil blackguard character. It wasn't strange, as Chikaru was the person who made the most effort to make Lucy feel comfortable and welcome in the group.

"I think you're nuts," said Kaname to Shizuma as she was getting herself a fizzy drink from the kitchen where Shizuma was putting some crisps in a bowl. "You're richer than Tony Stark and you're going to work eight hours a day for scraps."

Shizuma shrugged. "Maybe it'll be fun."

"Back-breaking labor fun?" Kaname scoffed. "Now stealing, that's a different story."

"It's just for a month," Shizuma said. "What harm could it do?"

"Nagisa-san really has you by your proverbial non-existent balls, Shizuma-sama," Kaname chuckled. "So, when are we going to do some fencing? You promised me a rematch."

"Next saturday?" Shizuma said, remembering their previous fencing match. Kaname was a driven and passionate opponent and had really given her a run for her money. Even being as good a fencer as she was, Shizuma had just barely managed to defeat her. Kaname had been asking for a rematch ever since.

"It's a deal," she told her. It was then that Momomi entered the kitchen and shot a look at Lucy while leaning over the counter.

"Is she... Is she a Diclonius?" Momomi whispered softly.

"A what?" Shizuma blinked.

"Oh," Momomi muttered to herself. "Just something I read in a classified government file. It's not worth a wooden yen to go into right now. But we're still alive, so I guess we're safe. Forget I said anything."

Shizuma shook her head while stepping back into the living room with a bowl of crisps. "You get weirder by the day, Momomi-chan."

With the drinks and snacks replenished, the gathered friends and their two guests returned to the game. "Alright," Takashi said. "Recap. You have entered the Tomb of Extreme and Deadly Horrific Evil in pursuit of your arch-enemy, the vile and evil Shadow."

"The Shadow?" Chikaru asked.

"The Shadow!" Nagisa confirmed.

"Alright, you have defeated his vampire lackeys and continued your way to the second level of the dungeon. You find yourself standing in a badly lit room. You see several platforms jutting out of the darkness below, connected by a few rickety bridges. What do you do?" Takashi said.

"Do we hear anything?" Nagisa asked.

"Listen check, please."

The dice rolled and Nagisa let out a disappointed groan. "Three."

"Nope, you don't hear a thing."

"Uhm," Lucy said rather timidly while sorting through her sheets. "Uhm, can I do something?"

Takashi nodded. "Of course. What would you like to do, Lucy?"

Lucy bit her lip and looked through her list of spells. "I, uh, I cast Magic Torch."

"Okay," Takashi said. "A magic torch appears in your hand. The room appears a bit more lit now, but you don't see much more."

"Okay, uhm, I toss the torch into the darkness next to the platform I'm on," Lucy said.

Momomi blinked. "Why'd you do that?"

"I, uh, want to see how deep it is."

Takashi sighed heavily. "As you throw down the torch, you notice that the torch hits ground about three meters below you, rather than the expected bottomless drop. And, spot check please..."

Lucy rolled. "Ah, twenty. Is that good?"

Takashi groaned a bit. "And you clearly see the ghouls hiding in the darkness, thereby ruining the trap and the epic surprise fight painstakingly planned out by your friendly dungeon-master."

"I check the bridges for traps!" Shizuma called out.

"Well done, Lucy," Kaname grinned.

"Yeah, great strategy!" Shion nodded.

"Good guess," Chikaru smiled.

And for a moment, it seemed like Lucy actually beamed with pride.

Shizuma watched it all and approved. Tomorrow, Lucy and Kouta would move on and visit one more town before heading back home and restarting their lives. She wouldn't be surprised if a wedding wasn't far off. So many good times. And tomorrow, she and Nagisa would also hit the job-market. She had no idea what to expect, but she was determined to excel and give it her utmost.

* * *

Next time: on the vagaries of job-hunting and the pains of actually keeping a job.


	2. Chapter 2 : Oddjobs

Hello everyone,

Chapter 2 of Hello Work! is ready for the public. Hope you all like it.

* * *

**Hello Work!**

Chapter 2 : Oddjobs

Parked neatly on the couch in Chikaru's little apartment while sipping soda from a can and wearing comfortable slacks and a baggy T-shirt, Shizuma watched Chikaru, who was dressed in a similar comfortable outfit, fiddle about with her DVD-player while sitting cross legged on the floor. The appartment which Chikaru shared with Shion was small, but very cozy: still with all the books, DVD's, figurines and costumes, there was hardly any room left for furniture.

"Thanks for inviting me over, Chikaru," Shizuma said. "It's been way too long since I've seen a decent B-grade flick."

"Decent B-grade?" Chikaru chuckled.

"Figure of speech," Shizuma shrugged.

Shizuma and Chikaru shared a closet-interest in cheesy horror-flicks and sometimes met up in Chikaru's apartment for the watching of said movies while idling about and randomly chatting.

"Alright," Chikaru smiled happily. "What do you want to watch first? I've got 'Chainsaw Prostitutes On the Prowl XII' and 'Corpsegrinder 7'."

"Corpsegrinder 6 was nice and laughable," Shizuma replied. "It's been a while since we've had a cheesy horror-night. Heh, Nagisa never wants to watch them. Probably a good thing too because she wouldn't be able to sleep for a month."

Chikaru nodded. "We've been pretty busy with the wedding-preparations and all. Shion and we have had so little time for ourselves lately. It's nice to just chill and do nothing for just an evening."

While the title screen popped up, Shizuma and Chikaru settled on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn, crisps and soda's. "Where is Shion-chan, by the way? Usually she's walking around the house making sarcastic comments about the movies we watch and fiddling around the kitchen."

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Chikaru offered while taking a moment to re-tie a loose ribbon in her hair. "Shion-koi started work for the Japan Travelling Association."

"I've never heard of them," Shizuma said.

"They're a non-profit organization which promotes tourism to and from Japan," Chikaru said. "My dad dropped Shion-koi's name there and they were eager to have her on board due to her organizational skills. Shion-koi is doing some evening courses to learn more about the tourism trade and foreign relations. I'm just happy Shion-koi has found something she can be enthusiastic about."

"Is that why your wedding has been postponed twice?" Shizuma asked.

As the first prostitute sliced one of her johns in two with a super-powered chainsaw, Chikaru bit her lip. "Well... Not exactly," Chikaru said softly.

Shizuma crossed her arms. "There's a story here. Dish. You'll feel better afterwards."

"It's just that..." Chikaru paused. "Shizuma, everybody and their dog is getting involved with the planning of our wedding. Shion-koi's family want a Shinto-style wedding, while my family favors a western style. At first, we were going to hold a grand wedding at the Toumori estate, but my dad started battling for a smaller scale wedding at our family cottage in Hokkaido. At one point we would both wear dresses, both tuxes or a standard tux-dress, but everybody started fighting over who'd get to wear the dress. My mother wanted a summer wedding, Shion-koi's grandmother a spring wedding. And so it goes on and on and on, from floral arrangements to the cake to the snacks for the guests. And the wedding gifts."

"Sounds nasty. But what about the wedding gifts?"

Chikaru sighed softly. "Shion-koi's grandmother wants to give us a luxurious apartment for our wedding present. My dad considered this typical macho rich-person behaviour because there's no way our family could afford a gift that could match it and went off his rocker. He feels upstaged, but there's two fundamental flaws in his reasoning."

"Which are?"

"Well, A-I won't love him any less regardless of the gift he'd want to give to us and B-we could really, really use that new and bigger apartment. We're sorta growing out of our flat here, as you can see."

Shizuma patted Chikaru on the leg. "It's not easy, huh? Nagisa's been having family issues ever since we were married. First they hated me for turning their little girl into a dyke, then they loved me for having loads of cash, now they flaunt me as the perfect daughter-in-law because dad wants me start on taking over the company as soon as I graduate from college. Damn, I don't know the first thing about business."

"For us, it's gotten so bad that we've been considering to elope," Chikaru said. "But we can't do that. We respect our families too much. However, if this keeps up, it'll be another five years before we walk down the isle."

Just as another john screamed after having his nuts sawn off by a chainsaw blade, the front door was unlocked. In came Shion dressed in a long overcoat. She dropped her bookback by the umbrella stand, removed her shoes and tossed her overcoat over the radiator.

"Hey," Shizuma greeted.

"Hello, Shizuma-sama," she greeted, then leant in to kiss Chikaru. What followed was an evening greeting in the form of a deep, open-lip kiss. Shizuma raised an eyebrow as the two embraced and looked as if they were about to fall onto the couch together.

"Okay," Shizuma blinked. "I'm not a prude or anything, and I know this is your house, but... come on, I'm trying to watch a movie here!"

"Sorry," said Chikaru as both girls blushed. "How was your evening, Shion-koi? Oh, before you answer, your dinner is in the fridge."

Shion reluctantly withdraw from Chikaru's embrace. "Exhilarating," Shion said as she moved to the kitchen, removed her food from the fridge and put it in the microwave. "And what on earth are you two watching?"

Chikaru giggled as she sat back and folded her legs into the lotus position. "Chainsaw Prostitutes on the Prowl XII. It's awesomely bad!"

Shion shook her head and muttered something about awful movies and the people who liked to watch them.

* * *

Around 2 o'clock in the morning, a rather tipsy Shizuma staggered into her apartment. Her hair disheveled and her eyes adjusting to the darkness, she dropped her bag somewhere near the door, tossed off her shoes and left a trail of clothes behind as she headed into the bathroom. After a toothbrushing and hairbrushing session, Shizuma entered the bedroom and let herself drop on the bed.

Nagisa, who had already gone to bed much earlier, groaned and stirred in her sleep.

"Shizuma?" she muttered weakly.

"Sorry, sweetie," Shizuma said raspily. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"What ti... 2 o'clock? Shizuma, we have work tomorrow. Our first day... what happened?"

"Oh," Shizuma giggled. "Chikaru-chan and I watched Chainsaw Prostitutes on the Prowl XII and Corpsegrinder 7, but we were still in the mood for another cheesy flick, so we tried to strongarm Shion-chan into watching The Deadly Spawn with us, but she said she'd only watch it if she could have alcohol to soften the experience. So we opened up a bottle of sake and went with it. You won't believe how drunk Shion-chan was at the end of the movie. Chikaru-chan also had a few cups and she was even more giggly than Kizuna-chan."

"Had a few yourself?" Nagisa asked softly.

"Well, yeah..." Shizuma shrugged as she rolled under the duvet to hug her wife.

"Work tomorrow," Nagisa said groggily. "Sleep now or you'll be too tired."

"Well..." Shizuma said in a husky tone. "I'm awake and you're awake... Seems a shame to waste the opportunity."

"Not tonight, Shizuma, it's too late for that," Nagisa replied.

"Oh? What if I do this? Will that change your mind?"

"S-shizuma!"

"Or this?"

"S-s-shizuma, don't..."

"Or maybe even this? Come on, let's get you some more steamy material for you next confession on Sunday."

"Shizuma!" Nagisa said, somewhat forcefully. "Work tomorrow. Too late for playtime. Save it for tomorrow night."

Shizuma grumbled a little, but eventually settled for just holding Nagisa tonight before falling into an alcohol aided sleep.

* * *

"Raise and shine!" Nagisa announced cheerfully as she entered the bedroom, causing Shizuma to start awake. Shizuma blinked groggily and saw that her wife was fully dressed in a neat dress, making her wonder how she could have missed Nagisa sneaking out of bed.

She tried to come up with a witty retort, but all she could manage was a loud, groggy 'Mrrruffff...'

"Come on, Shizuma," Nagisa said as she opened the window. "We have to be at work in fifteen minutes."

"Work?" Shizuma groaned, "but... it's only half past eight! And it's saturday!"

"Shizuma, you promised," Nagisa pouted, but then turned resolute. "Come on. Out!"

Shizuma weakly held on to the duvet while Nagisa started pulling it off the bed. It didn't take long Shizuma to lose her grip and be exposed to the elements... or rather, the cold air coming in from the window as Shizuma always slept naked.

"Arghh!" she curled up in a fetal position and stuffed her head under her pillow. "Too early! Too early!"

"Come on, lazybones!" Nagisa said more forcefully as she 'liberated' Shizuma's pillow as well. "Breakfast is on the table, ready for you to eat. Wash up in the bathroom first."

"Can't get out of bed! I'm sick!" Shizuma whined.

"Oh?" she said while feeling Shizuma's forehead. "Liar," she said with a touch of humor in her voice after concluding Shizuma wasn't telling the truth.

"It's true. I have... uh... swine flu!" Shizuma said, followed up by two less-than-convincing coughs.

"Likely story," Nagisa said while tossing Shizuma a robe. "Come on."

"Nrrrggggg," Shizuma groaned. "I want a divorce!"

"Tough," Nagisa said resolutely as she started to tug on Shizuma's legs. "Come on, get out of bed."

By some miracle, Shizuma ended up standing on both feet... but not exactly straight or stable. She somehow managed to wobble to the dresser to don a shirt and then to the bathroom to wash herself. Shizuma was mostly on auto-pilot as she ate and, after dressing and being guided to their car, Nagisa deemed it best that she's be taking the driver's seat of Shizuma's Corvette because of the state she was in.

"Coffeeeeee," Shizuma whined during the car drive. Fortunately, Nagisa had fixed a themosflask filled with the brown nectar.

Not even aware that the car had stopped somewhere, Shizuma ended up being slightly more coherent when she had been parked behind a desk with a computer and a phone and was fitted with a head-set. The call-center was filled with all manner of students and other young people, bunched around in a hot room with poor ventilation. In the middle of the room stood a middle aged american man wearing a snazzy business suit.

"What's this job again, Nagisa?" Shizuma asked.

"Selling over the phone," Nagisa said. "It's easily combined with our college schedule and judging how we don't have to sign contracts, we could just try it and see how it works out and just leave if we don't like it."

The American man in the middle of the room scraped this throat before speaking in heavily accented Japanese. "Greetings all of you," he said. "Some of you might question the methods of our way of selling magazines. I have come from the States, where we perfected this aggressive style of selling. I realize that in Japan, the rules of politeness and etiquette are often a hindrance for sales, but we need to shove that all aside and break through the artificial boundaries of politeness and respect to bring our products right into the customer's living room. After all, the costumer can only be right if we shove our products right down their throats! Now, sell, sell, sell! And if you don't sell, you're out on your ass!"

The man left, leaving the students to call their first victims.

Shizuma frowned while she looked at her screen which displayed a random number from the phonebook. Right next to her was a sample of the product she was selling: a godawful americanized glossy about idiot celebrities screwing other idiot celebrities in their free time.

Shizuma shrugged and dialled the first number.

"Konnichiwa, I am Your Name Here... Oh, I mean, Hanazono Shizuma," she said, a bit uneasily as she read from her cue-cards. "I wonder if you've heard of our magazine: Celebrity-gasm, the hottest new magazine on celebrity gossip- so hot, it melts the magazine racks. Uh, hello? Hello? Huh, hung up."

A glance at Nagisa showed that her wife was already having trouble. She nervous stammered through her cue-cards, skipping or mispronouncing words while nervously glancing around her to see if anyone had noticed her mistake. Shizuma had known Nagisa long enough to see that she was already hating this job.

"Konnichiwa, I am Hanazono Shizuma," she droned after calling the second number. "I wonder if you've heard of our magazine: Celebrity-gasm, the hottest new magazine on celebrity gossip- so hot, it melts the magazine racks. And... huh? What I'm wearing? Well, uh, I suppose it's just casual stuff. Jeans, blouse. Hm? I, uh, I'm not sure what you mean. The magazine is hot, not me. Well, it IS rather warm in this room, so you could say I'm hot," Shizuma said, while turning to whisper to Nagisa. "Nagisa, I think I have an asthma patient on the line..."

Nagisa blinked as she hung up her second victim.

"Take some calm breaths, sir, you should feel better in a moment. Hm? No, no, no, I'm wearing a bra. I... What? No, no, no, I'm a lesbian, I don't do things like that. Hm? Yeah, I am proud to say that I have a super hot girlfriend. Wife, actually. Hm? Well, yeah... we like sex just as much as the next couple. Oh, all the time, believe me. I can't keep my hands off her, she's so darn cute. Hm? Well, short red hair, perfect body and the sweetest smile you could imagine, so... Oh, are you having an asthma-attack again?"

"SHIZUMA!" Nagisa shouted and jumped over to Shizuma's desk to hang up the phone.

"Hey!" Shizuma protested. "What are you doing? That was a nice guy and he would probably have bought a magazine subscription from me."

"AOI!" shouted the American. "Back to your desk NOW! Those magazines won't sell themselves!"

"Sorry," Nagisa said timidly and returned to her desk.

Shizuma, now a bit miffed, dialed her next number. "Konnichiwa, I am Hanazono Shizuma. I wonder if you've heard of our magazine: Celebrity-gasm, the hottest new magazine on celebrity gossip- so hot, it melts the magazine racks... uh... ma'am? Yeah, yeah, I do have the magazine right here. Oh, you bought a copy? Hm? Nonsensical, slanderous lies? In a glossy with a screaming lay-out that hurts the eyes," repeated Shizuma while leafing through the magazine. "You know, you're absolutely right! This magazine is low-par, slanderous and downright overpriced. Half the celebrity photos here are look-alikes! Excuse me a moment."

Shizuma stood up. "Boss," she said calmly as the American frowned. "This magazine is, I'll put it in terms you understand," she said while switching to English. "A sucky piece of crap not fit to be used to line a kitty-litter box!"

The American blinked. "You've got a lot to learn about American sales-techniques, girl! You need to believe in your product, even if it is a steaming pile of horse manure! I am from..."

"Before you continue," Shizuma said. "I've been to America and all Americans I've met have been a lot nicer than you are! I'm leaving!"

Nagisa was quick to end her call. "We quit!"

* * *

Shizuma and Nagisa sat on a bench at the edge of the park while Nagisa was leafing through the classifieds.

"I hope you're not mad at me for leaving after 2 minutes of work," Shizuma said.

"Not at all," Nagisa said. "In fact, I wholeheartedly agree."

"Anything to fall back on or shall we go back home?"

"I might have something here," Nagisa said while pointed at an add. "They're always looking for people."

Shizuma and Nagisa were quickly hired by their new employer. They were dressed in blue coveralls, a hard-hat and were put on the road outside of a construction site, where one side of the road was cordoned off. It was Shizuma and Nagisa's job to guide traffic by using hand-held orange lights. After two minutes, a small signal went off, and they had to switch the light to the other hand so that the other row of traffic could pass. It was a simple, if boring job.

"Well, at least we're outside," Shizuma smiled. "It's dry and sunny..."

"And boring," Nagisa bit her lip while switching the light to her other hand. "But it pays well and we can do it part-time."

Just as Shizuma was about to direct traffic in the other direction, an elderly lady stepped up to Shizuma. "Excuse me, miss? Could you please tell me what I can find the subway station."

"Certainly, madam, it's right there, two blocks away," Shizuma said and pointed her light in the general direction of the subway station."

"SHIZUMA, NO!" Nagisa shouted. But it was too late. Cars on both sides started driving, and soon Shizuma and Nagisa were greeted by the sounds of violent crashes, defective claxons and approaching police sirens in the distance.

Shizuma simply stood there like a statue, daring not to look in the direction of the crash. "I, uh, I just got us fired, didn't I?"

"Please turn off that light already, Shizuma," Nagisa sighed while a single tire rolled past them.

* * *

"At least they let us go after I promised my dad's company would cover all the damages," Shizuma sighed as the two lovers sat on the curb of the street leafing through the classifieds in the paper. "Sorry I got us fired."

Nagisa smiled. "It's okay, Shizuma. At least nobody got hurt."

"Anything good in the paper?"

"Hm, I like the look of this one. It's nearby and had good hours. Let's go check it out."

The Office Lady: a staple of Japanese business life. Traditionally, Japanese women, often college graduates, were hailed in to office life to fulfill secondary office tasks, such as making coffee for the workers, copying, filing, faxing and keeping track of office supplies. It was usually a job women did in their twenties and were expected to quit upon marriage.

Fortunately, nowadays, most Japanese companies had a more enlightened view and placed women in much better positions than the OL, on par with the male workers.

Unfortunately, this was not such an enlightened company.

Nagisa was hating every moment of her tenure as OL. She had to endure menial tasks such as scrubbing caked old coffee out of the bottom of cups, removing alcohol stains from the floor and running back and forth between one worker to another with a clipboard, enduring endless catcalls and dodging hands searching for young female backsides.

It was sort of saddening for Nagisa to realize that even though Nagisa had suggested looking for a job, she was having a far more miserable time at work than Shizuma seemed to have.

Nagisa had withdrawn to the small kitchen area at the edge of the office floor: a small refuge for her and the other office ladies... no wonder they all smoked regular as clockwork. Shizuma was still out there and Nagisa could see her: cheerful, blissful smile as she pushed a cart with refreshments around... unaware that she was being ogled from every angle.

"Hi Nagisa!" Shizuma waved over. "I am being useful!"

Nagisa shook her head as one of the salarymen, a scrawny thirty-something, 'accidentally' dropped his pencil. Shizuma came to the rescue and bent over to grab it for him, offering him a magnificent view of her cleavage as she wore an issued business jacket that was easily two sizes too small. A chorus of lustful sighs went through the salarymen as every single of them dropped their pencil to the ground.

And a blissfully smiling Shizuma picked up each and every one of them, offering nice views of T and A for the 'nice' men of the office.

Nagisa slapped her hand before her eyes: she just couldn't understand how someone as worldly and suave as Shizuma, who could read and seduce every woman on the planet, could be so incredibly naive around men. Then again, the only real men in her life were her father and a mild-mannered otaku, so she didn't have much experience dealing with them.

And to be honest, she really, really, really didn't like the way the men were looking at her wife: Only Nagisa herself was allowed to objectify her Shizuma like that, dammit!

"They like me, Nagisa," Shizuma said happily as she rode her cart into the kitchen area and parked her trolley. "They really like me."

'Yeah, they like your ass,' Nagisa thought wryly. At least Shizuma had enthusiasm for this job, which more than she could say for herself. "Coffee break soon," Nagisa said. "Thank god."

"Great," Shizuma grinned. "Hey," she said softly. "Wanna go make out in the broom closet during our coffee break?"

Nagisa hissed and sprang to action. "Sssssh!" she hissed. "Careful, these men all have camera phones! We'll wind up on the internet if we get caught!"

"Okay," Shizuma nodded. "So, you wanna make out or not?"

Nagisa blinked for a moment. "Hell, yeah."

"Gotta bring the manager some coffee first," Shizuma nodded. "Apparently the big boss from the company that recently look over this one is here on inspection or somesuch, but," she grinned and gently tapped Nagisa's nose. "We have a date."

Meanwhile, the manager sat in his chair being very nervous while being scrutinized by the Big Boss. Already, things didn't go well when the Big Boss very bluntly stated he didn't like the department's success rates at all. It was time for a distraction.

"But, uh, won't you sit down? I've ordered coffee delivered by our newest OL. Just wait till you see her. Breasts to die for, slender waist, gorgeous long hair and eyes that could piece through the soul," the manager wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Takano-san, I figure that if your employees did a little less staring at women and focused more on their work, these figures wouldn't be so substandard," the Big Boss said, making no move to sit down or relax. "You need to do better to convince me not to dismantle this entire operation and start over!"

"Oh, this girl might warm your heart, I'm sure of it," the manager said. "Just one look at her when I first saw her, wow... I mean, if I could persuade her to come to a love hotel with me, we'd be at it all night long, I can tell you. And we hired a second OL too, not as busty as the other one, but very pleasing to the eye, oh yes. Rumors have it that they're a couple, you know? Wow, imagine a love-hotel threesome..."

The manager's tactic usually worked, but this time it seemed to fall flat and annoyed the Big Boss even more. The Big Boss' eyes pierced his soul and he could only hope that once he'd put his eyes on that lovely OL, it would fix everything and melt his heart.

Finally, a knock on the door relieved his tension. Shizuma came through the door holding a tray with two cups of coffee.

"There, isn't she lovely?"

The Big Boss blinked. "Zuma-chan?"

Shizuma grinned brightly. "Hi, dad! Didn't know you were coming here. Do you own this company too?"

"You? Here?"

The manager swallowed hard while his mind raced to connect the implications to all of this. "D... d... dad? B... but..."

Hanazono-san turned to the manager with a fierce look in his eyes. "Breasts to die for? You were talking about MY LITTLE GIRL?"

"I... I... Well, I..."

"Love... hotel... All night long?" Hanazono-san could barely contain his rage.

At that point, Nagisa came running with a small tray of her own. "Shizuma, you forgot the sugar... Oh, hi dad!"

Hanazono-san greeted Nagisa pleasantly for returning to the manager with his full ire.

"And my cute daughter-in-law? Nagisa-chan too? You and your perverted employees have been eying up my FAMILY?"

"Well, ah, uh, well..."

"LOVE-HOTEL THREESOME?"

At this point, the manager could only croak weakly.

* * *

And half an hour later, Shizuma and Nagisa were once again sitting on the side of the curb looking through the newspaper for a new job.

"I can't believe your dad fired the entire company," Nagisa said.

"He kinda overreacted," Shizuma shrugged. "But technically, we weren't fired."

"We were the only two left in the company," Nagisa replied. "There wasn't much we could do, really. At least dad was nice enough to give the long-suffering Office Ladies new and better jobs."

"And we never got to make out in the broom closet," Shizuma sighed. "Any more jobs in the paper?"

"Nothing," Nagisa sighed, then put down the paper. "This is... one more thing we can try. I was actually going to try to avoid this, but... it seems we have no choice."

Shizuma frowned as Nagisa tossed the paper in a nearby dustbin and started to lead Shizuma to the car. "Come on, you're driving."

The drive took them an hour away from their home, to a neighboring city where they parked in front of a very nice cafe located at a prime location. It didn't seem to be open for business yet, but everything looked new and modern. The sign 'Happy Tasty' had been freshly mounted above the door.

Shizuma recognized it as a part of the Happy Tasty chain which had cafes in cities in most asian countries. Unlike most chains where the menu and theme was usually the same in every store all over the world, Happy Tasty prided themselves by giving each store a unique theme and menu, and thus unique experience for the visitor of every different cafe. A Happy Tasty might have a Chinese theme in one store and the Happy Tasty three streets away could have an Italian or other exotic theme.

"Ah, I get it," Shizuma smiled. "We are going to be waitresses. Nothing to be ashamed about, Nagisa." Shizuma was happy about it, even. Happy Tasty was considerably less tacky than many other chains.

Nagisa, who had been quiet during of the trip, just nodded. "Depends on the manager," she said and led Shizuma inside.

As they were about enter the cafe, Shizuma noticed a large SUV parked near it. "Hey, doesn't that car belong to Taka..."

But her question answered itself when she saw her friend Takashi standing on the counter adjusting the wiring of one of the overhead screens. The cafe itself had a distinctive anime-theme, with figures and posters behind glass of famous anime girls. Otherwise, there were nice oaken booths, stylishly designed wall decorations and a long counter lined with seats.

"Oh, hey, Shiz. Hey Nagisa," Takashi said. "So, you decided to take her up on her offer anyway, hm? She'll love that. Glad Shiz doesn't mind."

"Takashi-kun," Nagisa sighed in defeat as the mild-mannered otaku had practically given the game away already.

"Takashi?" Shizuma blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Nagisa asked me to help out a friend of hers," Takashi said as he kept tinkering with the machinery. "The repairman who worked on this thing doesn't know a thing: wrong software, wrong wiring... But I'll have it fixed before the grand opening."

Shizuma turned to a nervous Nagisa. "Alright, what's going on here?"

"Ah, Nagisa-chan!" sounded from the back room and the source soon revealed itself. If the voice hadn't been enough, it was the blue hair and ribboned bangs that gave it away.

"Suzumi-san?" Shizuma blinked.

"Hi Tamao-chan," Nagisa said nervously.

What was more worrying to Shizuma is that Tamao was wearing a tag on her dress which read 'Manager'.

"Nagisa-chan!" Tamao yelped and quickly hugged Nagisa. "I'm so happy you've decided to take me up on my offer! We'll be working together, Nagisa-chan. Oh, hello Shizuma-san," Tamao said with considerably less enthusiasm.

"Nagisa," Shizuma said as she yanked Shizuma from Tamao's grasp. "A word..."

Nagisa nodded as Shizuma pulled her into a booth. "You knew about this," Shizuma said. It was no accusation, but still Shizuma wasn't very happy.

"I wasn't sure how you'd react," Nagisa smiled apologetically. And it worked in her favor.

Shizuma sighed and kissed her wife's forehead. "I can never be angry with you."

"Tamao-chan will pay well, there's no other jobs and we've promised to each other to pretend to be poor for a month," Nagisa said. "Beggars can't be choosers, and I'd rather work for Tamao-chan than for anyone else."

Shizuma nodded, and a few minutes later, a smiling Tamao was sitting in the booth opposite to them to explain the situation.

"Your family owns the Happy Tasty franchise?" Shizuma asked. "I didn't know that."

"Yes," Tamao nodded with pride. "It's how my family made its fortune. My grandfather started the first Happy Tasty right after the War, in a tiny building in Tokyo. We've grown a lot since then. But to the matter at hand, it's become somewhat of a rite of passage for every member of our family to become the manager one of our cafe's for at least a month and run everything completely on their own. My brother ran his as an Argentina steakhouse, while one of my cousins ran hers as a Horror themed cafe with fitting menu: Ghoul eyeballs, Vampire's delight, Screaming Maiden cocktail, Zombie Surprise. That sort of thing."

"I need to visit that cafe with Chikaru-chan sometimes," Shizuma grinned, earning herself an elbow in the ribs from Nagisa.

"I'm still working on getting my staff together, but I'm so happy that I have at least you two on board," Tamao smiled. "That'll be a great help."

"But what are you planning, Tamao-chan," Nagisa smiled. "You haven't even told me."

"Well," Tamao blushed a little. "You know how otaku like to go to maid cafe's and have cosplaying girls cater to their every whim."

"Hell yeah!" Takashi called over from behind the counter before catching him. "Uhm, I mean, uhm... I hear about them... sometimes... From my otaku friend. Ahum. I'm going to shut up now."

"A maid cafe?" Nagisa asked.

"Yes, but not just any maid cafe," Tamao said. "This'll be a maid cafe that'll cater specifically to lesbian clientele."

"A lesbian maid cafe?" Nagisa blinked.

Shizuma processed this information for a moment before announcing her conclusion. "Tamao-san... That's absolutely brilliant!"

Tamao smiled and seemed to dream away. "It just seemed so natural. What girl doesn't dream about having other beautiful girls come over to their tables and cater to their every whim? We'll add that little personal touch to every dining experience here, including a little sexiness from our waitresses. Well, are you in?"

"Hell, yes!" Shizuma announced. "We're in. Right, Nagisa?"

"Right," Nagisa added, happy that Shizuma wasn't angry about being led on.

Meanwhile, Tamao closed her eyes and seemed to float off into her own little dreamworld.

* * *

Next chapter : Shizuma dons the maid outfit and finds out the life of a wage-slave isn't as glamorous as often claimed. :)


	3. Chapter 3 : Cosplayforyou, Cosplayforme

Hello everyone,

Yes, I am still alive. I'm just a little tired. :) Aside from a lovely vacation, work had been particularly dreadful what with understaffing and all. Hope to update a little more frequently in the near future. Next up will be an update for my Claymore story and hopefully opposites after that. meanwhile, he's an Hello Work. Please enjoy! :)

* * *

**Hello Work**

Chapter 3 - Cosplay for you, Cosplay for me!

It was a vision of delight and loveliness. Something made out of pure dream.

In front of an eager Nagisa, on a small dish, stood a delicious dessert from a famous patisserie, which happened to be right around the corner from Tamao's Happy Tasty.

It was a small piece of cake that looked delicious beyond belief. A foundation of creambutter cake supported vanilla cream surrounded and kept together by an envelope of thick dark chocolate with sprinkles of white chocolate. On top of the dessert was a dollop of whipped cream and, placed perfectly in the middle, a small piece of pineapple.

Though chronically unable to use knife and fork, Nagisa was a pro with a tiny pie-spoon. The only question was where to dig in? What would be the best place to start and would not mar the vision of loveliness in front of her?

Maybe she should eat the pineapple first, but that's how she usually started... and this was no usual piece of dessert. Maybe she should break into the envelope of chocolate from the sides... or take a little bit of the cake from the bottom. Or maybe just a tiny bit of whipped cream.

Nagisa held her pie-spoon at the ready, but still couldn't decide. Instead, she opted to stare at the piece of cake for a bit longer.

Unfortunately, though, her reveree was disturbed. She watched in horror as a long, thin finger swept into vision and targeted her dessert. She watched powerlessly as the finger defiled the dessert by slicing into the whipped cream and making off with the grand majority of it... and knocking off the piece of pine-apple to boot.

"EEEEEEEHHHH?" Nagisa exclaimed while Shizuma brought the stolen whipped cream to her mouth and licked it off.

"Hm?" Shizuma smiled. "Oh, you were taking so long to decide. And it looked really good."

"I noticed," Nagisa lamented as she watched the dessert. "You violated her."

Shizuma smiled gently while Chikaru was tugging at her costume to adjust the fit of the belt. The grand opening of the HappyTasty managed by Tamao was mere hours away and all around them, girls were preparing. Most of the girls were Tamao's friends who had volunteered to help her out. All of Tamao's poetry club had been busy handing out flyers at the proper spots, while Yaya, Tsubomi, Chiyo and Shizuma had been hired as waitresses. Meanwhile, Shizuma's friend Takashi was handling the technical details behind the scenes and everything Otaku-related after Nagisa had recommended him to Tamao. Last but not least, Chikaru had been brought on board to act as a costume-artist.

The dressing room next to the kitchen was rather cramped, but Chikaru happily had some room to work with.

While Yaya and Tsubomi had been fitted with regular maid costumes, Chikaru had something special in mind for Chiyo and Shizuma. Chiyo had been dressed up as Disgaea's Etna, complete with tail and pointed ears. Meanwhile, Shizuma was receiving an entirely different costume.

"Ow," said Shizuma as Chikaru adjusted the long black wig to completely cover Shizuma's already impressive silver mass of hair. In the background, Yaya and Tsubomi were bickering over something or other, but Shizuma paid it no mind.

"It would be easier if you'd just dye your hair, Shizuma-chan," Chikaru said.

"Dye my hair? Not a chance!" Shizuma narrowed her eyes. "My hair is perfect as it is, thank you very much! And why the hell does my chest need extra padding? Are you telling my lovely breasts aren't big enough?"

"Vain much?" Chikaru smiled gently. "And, remember, you are supposed to be Kanu Uncho. This is the reference picture which Tamao-chan gave me."

Shizuma looked at the picture. And blinked.

"Wow," she said while Chikaru brushed the wig so that it covered her right eye completely, giving Shizuma the Kanu-look. "Are you sure this padding is enough, then? Poor Kanu-sama is bound to have backaches later in life."

Chikaru handed Shizuma her guandao-pole weapon, with a plastic blade. Shizuma took it, whipped around and immediately slammed her head against the lamp hanging in the dressing room.

"Ow," Shizuma hissed and rubbed her scalp.

"Honey, are you okay?" Nagisa asked with some concern... before returning to her dessert.

"Yeah, my depth perception is a bit off because this dumb wig is hanging in front of my eye," Shizuma said. "What about you, Chikaru-chan? Won't you be in costume?"

"No," Chikaru said softly. "I'd love to, but not to wait on other girls. Shion-koi tends to get jealous, you see?"

* * *

As opening time was closing, the girls became more and more nervous. Nobody was more nervous than Tamao, however. She twittered back and forth from the dressing room to the kitchen to the counter, double, triple, then quadruple-checking everything... thrice.

While Tamao (holding her massive clipboard) was passing through the dressing room again, Nagisa stopped her. "Tamao-chan," asked Nagisa. "Why don't I get to wear a costume?"

Tamao nodded and reluctantly put down her clipboard. "Well, not only do my Nagisa-chan's talents lie with preparing the most delicious of dishes, I will not run the risk of having her sensitive body potentially pawed by lonely and horny women."

Behind Nagisa, Shizuma and Yaya crossed their arms. "But it's okay if WE get pawed by lonely and horny women, then?" Yaya asked sarcastically.

"That's what I was about to ask," Shizuma raised an eyebrow.

Tamao smiled softly. "But you're both used to it already, so you won't mind."

Tsubomi seemed sort of uncomfortable in her maid costume, but wouldn't be outdone by Yaya. "Ah, Tamao-chan. When do I get to wear my other costume?"

"Ah, we rotate. We'll have two maids for serving and two girls in cosplay and we rotate according to the schedule. That means Chiyo-chan and Shizuma-san will be wearing maid-costumes tomorrow and you and Yaya-chan will be wearing your cosplay-outfits tomorrow."

"Yes," Chikaru said. "I'll have this Revy-costume for Yaya tomorrow, though it'll take some time to apply the tattoo. I think I'll use some smudge proof ink for that."

"Black Lagoon! Wicked!" Yaya beamed and took a battle stance using her hands as guns. "Yeah, don't mess with me, you crapfaced motherfu..."

"YAYA!" Tsubomi yelled in outrage. "Language!"

"Do I get guns?" Yaya grinned broadly.

"Yep," Chikaru winked. "Picked up two air-guns just for you."

"Wicked!"

"And for Tsubomi-chan, I have this catgirl costume." Chikaru held up a pink costume consisting of, among other things, cat-ears, hotpants with tail, furry claw-gloves and slippers.

"Right, I'm not wearing that..." Tsubomi narrowed her eyes. "It makes me look like an idiot!"

"Awwww," Yaya hugged Tsubomi from behind. "But I so love to see you with your bare midriff, that miniskirt and those cute pink gloves going nyao, nyao, nyao, nyao."

And thus started the first bickering-match of the day.

* * *

To say that Tamao was nervous was the understatement of the year. And the worst thing was, that she wasn't really interested in running a restaurant, not now and not in the future. It was, however, a family thing. Tamao's grandfather had founded the first HappyTasty right after the war and laid the foundations for the empire it was now.

Tamao was the only girl among six brothers. And all her six brothers had succesfully ran a HappyTasty for one month, securing a place for themselves in the family company. She herself had always been doted on by both her parents, and considering her academic achievements and interests would secure her a place beyond company life, it wasn't necessary for her to actually do this.

But she wanted to. For her family, for herself and to...

Tamao closed her eyes, she didn't want to think of it now. She certainly hadn't made it easy for herself. To found a HappyTasty with a lesbian cosplay-cafe theme was to appeal to a niche market, even though this city had one of the biggest LBGT communities this side of Japan. Also, this was the city which held the Suzumi estate, meaning she was under scrutiny of ALL her family members. Thirdly, Tamao was severely out of her element. Her world was writing, literature and language. All she knew about running a business was what she had read in 'How To' manuals.

However, she was determined to try to make it all work, and had been touched by the sheer amount of help she was receiving. Her entire literature club had travelled to the city's university campus and other lesbian hot-spots to hand out flyers. And her friends...

Yaya was the daughter of a real-estate mogul. Shizuma a billionaire heiress. Tsubomi the daughter of a publishing tycoon. They certainly didn't need to be here, wearing costumes and working for the meager pay Tamao could afford to take out of her budget. But still they came to help, just like Chikaru and Nagisa. Because they cared about her.

She was also so grateful that Chiyo was here for her. Chiyo had a tendancy to keep the dreamer in Tamao with both feet on the ground and always being there for support.

The least she could do was to arrange for her friends to stay at the Suzumi estate. Shizuma and Nagisa lived close enough, but for the others the Hill was a long road to travel. It was also wonderful to have Chiyo sleeping with her in her own bed - a precursor to a future in which they would be living together.

Unfortunately, Yaya and Tsubomi stayed in the room next to hers. Fun as it was to have her friends near her, at night it was... noisy as the walls were somewhat thin. Tamao looked over her shoulder and saw Yaya and Tsubomi engaged in a deep kiss after a session of verbal sparring. _'Don't they ever stop_?' Tamao had thought often enough while spending half the night trying to drown out the moans by stuffing her head underneath her pillow, but had to admit it was rather cute. And luckily, Chiyo could sleep through an earthquake.

Her eyes swept past the clock and she decided to do yet another triple check. Opening time was approaching fast.

Nagisa had just finished inspecting the kitchen and had been rather impressed. Everything was brand-spanking new and shiny, a perfect environment to prepare delicious things for what was bound to be a plenthora of customers. She and three other girls from Tamao's literature club would be working the kitchen, possibly with help from Chikaru. It was all very exciting to her and she was about to report to Tamao when something stopped her as she stood in the doorway.

* * *

Tamao was behind the counter as always when Takashi, who had been working the electronics of the sign up front, entered the establishment with a young man in tow. The young man had a striking resemblance to Tamao. That same colored hair, similar bone-structure and piercing eyes. The only difference was permanently uppity expression on his face as he adjusted his snazzy casual suit. Nagisa took one look at the man and realized that she didn't like him.

"Tamao-san," Takashi asked with a certain suspicion on his voice, apparently not liking this man either. "This person here says he knows you and wants to speak with you for a moment."

Tamao looked up and for a moment was visibly shaken. She recovered quickly however, and adopted a stern and stoic look. "Reji," Tamao nodded. "It's okay, Takashi-kun?"

"You sure?" the otaku, who was apparently reluctant to leave Tamao alone with this Reji, replied with suspicion.

Tamao nodded softly. Takashi seemed to accept this. "Alright," he said. "Tamao-san, if you need me I'll be right outside. Just give me a shout."

Nagisa watched on in silence as Tamao and this Reji apparently were locked in a staring competition. She felt as if she was intruding into something intensely private, but yet could not look away for worry for her friend.

"What are you doing here, Reji?" Tamao asked with coldness in her voice.

"Is that any way to treat your brother?" Reji pretended to be hurt. "I'm just checking up on my baby sister, that's all."

"I'm fine, leave then," Tamao looked away.

Reji sat down at the counter and showed no intention of leaving. "Not so fast," Reji shook his head. "What are you doing, Tamao?"

Tamao didn't miss a beat. "Well, I think that'd be pretty obvious by the look of things, hm?"

"Niche market, niche market," Reji shook his head. "Too little appeal. This can't last. If you ask me, you should stop being so preoccupied with girls and start hanging out with boys a bit more."

"Nobody asked you, Reji," Tamao glowered.

"What?" Reji grinned. "Afraid you might like it?"

"I won't dignify that with a response," Tamao said angrily. "And mother and father said that I can make my own decisions. In my HappyTasty... and in my life!"

"Very well," Reji sighed. "I'll be here to pick up the pieces, I suppose. And... who is that?"

Suddenly, both of them were directly looking at Nagisa. Horrified at being caught, Nagisa blushed as red as a boiled lobster and bowed deeply. "Sorry. I'm sorry," Nagisa sputtered. "I'll, uh, go to the kitchen and..."

"Wait!" Reji called out, his expression suddenly softening significantly. Nagisa was again horrified when Reji seemed to be taking in her far and locked his eyes with hers. "Who... Uh, who are you?"

"This is my best friend Nagisa-chan," Tamao challenged angrily. "And she's not interested in you."

There was a dreamy look in his eyes, not wholly unfamiliar to Nagisa. Nagisa desperately wanted to flee, but didn't want to leave Tamao alone just yet.

"Nagisa... Nagisa-san," Reji smiled. "A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Tell me, Nagisa-san, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Uhm, uh, no, no I don't have a boyfriend," Nagisa could only sputter nervously in response.

Reji's eyes positively lit up as he processed this new information. "Really? That is so good to..."

"REJI-kun was just leaving... wasn't he?" Tamao spoke with a coldness in her voice which promised physical violence.

"Alright then," Reji sighed. "But don't think I won't be back, dear sister. Nagisa-san, I bid you a good day and I hope to see you here again also."

A flabbergasted Nagisa bowed politely as Reji left, silently rolling the name 'Nagisa' over his tongue a couple of times before he left.

The moment Reji was out the door, Tamao slammed both her fists on the counter while her entire body shook.

"Tamao-chan," Nagisa whispered, while Tamao said nothing and stepped past her into the kitchen.

For a moment, Nagisa just stood there, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, however, there was a rush from behind the counter. A long black mane popped up as a figure rose from behind the counter. The figure was hunched forward so that her long hair obscured her face, while she held a screwdriver in her hands pointing menacingly at Nagisa.

"IIIYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Nagisa screamed in terror.

The figure threw her hair back and put down the screwdriver, revealing herself to be a rather surprised Yaya.

"Yaya-chan?" Nagisa trembled. "How... why... huh? I thought you were that ghost that comes out of the TV!"

"Me?" Yaya smiled. "Well, I was just behind the counter helping Takashi by putting all the loose wires together and screw them behind cableholders. Then I heard something interesting and I just decided to stay out of sight."

"How much did you hear?"

"All of it," Yaya shrugged. "So, are you going to let him down easy or toy with him a little first?"

"This Reji, uhm, I don't really know..."

"Come on," Yaya smirked. "We both know this guy wants to get in your panties. And we also both know that Shizuma-sama has first dibs on that."

"I really don't want to think about it," Nagisa said. "I'd better go talk to Tamao-chan."

"Alright," Yaya replied. "I'll go tell Takashi-kun the cables are secure."

Nagisa stepped into the kitchen and there she found Tamao. Tamao was sobbing softly, a sharp contrast to the strength she had displayed earlier.

"Tamao-chan?" Nagisa asked softly as she lay her hand on her shoulder. "Are you..."

"Who does he think he is?" Tamao spat. "Just because he was born 2 minutes before I was... it doesn't give him the right to... to..."

"Tamao-chan?" Nagisa blinked. "You have a twin?"

"Pfft," Tamao snorted. "Twin. Hah. You hear stories about how sometimes twins are close to each other, feel each other's pain, hear each other's thoughts and all that tripe. Not us. If only. Dammit, why do I always let him do this to me? Why does he always make me feel so worthless?"

"Oh, Tamao-chan," Nagisa said and hugged her friend. Tamao was grateful for this contact and returned the hug rather fiercely.

"I can't do anything right in his eyes. My love of literature is useless because it's not profitable. I should stop seeing Chiyo-chan because girls who love girls are not normal. I should focus on starting a family because anything else would only make me unhappy. There's always something..."

"But your parents want you to be happy and make your own choices," Nagisa said. "Why should he bother you?"

"Because he's always been the best of us. He's always beaten my brothers at everything, but takes special pleasure in upstaging me," Tamao narrowed her eyes. "His HappyTasty was a multi-cultural eating house outside of Osaka airport. He attracted tourists looking for a taste of home and curious locals and made a horrible amount of profit. I want to do better than him. I HAVE to do better than him, at least once in my life."

"We'll make it work, Tamao-chan," smiled Nagisa. "You have all of us on your side. We'll make your brother eat the dust!"

"Nagisa nee-sama?" sounded from behind her.

"IYYYAAAAAAH!" cried Nagisa as she once again leapt to the ceiling. When she had crashed down, she found Chiyo looking at her with a quizzical look in her eyes. In full demon costume, she flew into Tamao's arms, giving a rather comical image. "Tamao-neesa... chan?" Chiyo smiled softly. "We're about to open."

Tamao nodded and held on to Chiyo gently. "Trial by fire, then..."

* * *

For only a moment, there was fear that there would be nobody for the grand opening. But that fear was shot to hell as soon as the doors opened and girls started pouring in. Though there were girls and women of all ages, some young, some older, most of them were either high-school girls or students at the local university.

Tamao was quick to recover from this overwhelming surprise and was quick to act. She set the kitchen to work and sent out the maids and cosplayers to wait on the customers who were now quietly chatting in the booths.

Drinks and food were sent out and empty plates and cups back to the kitchen. Not having done this before, the waitresses were somewhat awkward at first, and Shizuma managed to trip over her weapon a couple of times. Still, it didn't take long for the girls to get the rhythm.

Quite a few girls wanted to have their picture taken with the costumed Shizuma and Chiyo, while Tsubomi was sometimes lost her temper at being called 'cute' in her maid-costume. Unfortunately, this made people only think she was even more cute.

The undisputed star of the day, however, was Yaya. She was getting more and more into the whole deal as she waited and really enjoyed the attention. Eventually she returned to the backroom and came back on rollerblades. Showing tremendous agility, Yaya the 'speed-maid' raced in between the kitchen and tables and treated the ladies present to sly winks and blown kisses. Towards the evening, Yaya exchanged her maid-cap for a top-hat and started a couple of spontaneous Karaoke sessions, much to the enjoyment of the crowd... and even more to the enjoyment of Yaya herself.

After a long and gruelling day, closing time was finally in sight and as the last customer left and the doors closed, the tired girls returned to the backroom to toss their costumes.

"Good god," Chiyo sighed. "I thought they've never leave."

"I've never been felt up as much as I have today," Shizuma sighed as she tossed her weapon aside and ripped off the wig to free her own silver locks.

"They're worse than salarymen!" Tsubomi called. "My bottom hurts from all the pinching!"

Yaya, however, was quite pleased with herself as he held her top-hat, filled to the brim with scraps of paper. "Look at all these phone-numbers! I guess they liked me."

A low growl escaped from the depths of Tsubomi's throat as she stalked towards Yaya, ripped the hat from her hands and emptied it over the wastebin.

"Jealous?" Yaya winked.

"No," Tsubomi lied.

At that moment, Nagisa came walking out of the kitchen, tossed her apron and shuffled into the backroom, looking much like a zombie who hadn't had a brain to eat for a whole week. She collapsed next to a bemused Shizuma and promptly fell asleep.

Tamao came in next and wrapped an arm around Chiyo. "Thank you. All of you. I know it's not much, but I have your payment for the day, as well as an honest division of all the tip-money."

She handed everybody a small envelope which had the term 'thanks for your efforts' written on it in Kanji.

When Shizuma took the envelope, there was a moment of sheer pride that swelled in her chest. This money was the first money that she had actually earned. She turned to Nagisa to share in her pride, but found that she was napping.

"See you all tomorrow," Tamao smiled. "Rest and be happy."

"Oh, Tamao-chan?" Yaya grinned. "Mind if I take mine and Tsubomi's costume home with me today? We'd, uh, like to get in character and prepare a little."

* * *

After a full hour drive home, Shizuma parked her Corvette in front of their apartment and headed up the stairs with Nagisa is tow. As soon as they entered their home, Nagisa flung herself on the couch while Shizuma sat down besides her and lay Nagisa's head in her lap.

"God, I'm so tired," Nagisa sighed. "Aren't you tired?"

"Nah," Shizuma said. "Waitressing is kinda fun and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Hey, wanna go out and do something? There's a new restaurant in town and I've heard they have imported these delicious truffles from France and..."

Nagisa blinked. "Don't you remember, Shizuma?"

"Remember what?"

"Our bet?"

"Bet?"

"Yes, our bet. You know, we'd work for our money and live only off the money we make from our jobs," Nagisa looked up and locked eyes with Shizuma. "Remember?"

"Oh, that bet," Shizuma sighed.

Nagisa nodded. "Sorry, but we can't afford fancy restaurants. Or any restaurant, for that matter. I've been doing some calculations and both our salaries of the day barely cover our groceries from this morning, and the rest is spent on gas-money. And then there's the electric bill, we haven't paid that yet, Shizuma. Do you realize how much power your rooftop greenhouse uses?"

"But... I've been working all day. I'm hungry!" Shizuma whined slightly.

"I've brought these delicious microwave dinners," Nagisa said cheerfully. "Cheap and delicious. Got five packets of Spaghetti Bolognese. They were on sale today."

"That's because nobody in Japan eats that crap! Why don't we just put the restaurant on my creditcard? We'll just pay the bill when the month is over."

"We will eat 'that crap'," Nagisa nodded. "And... about that creditcard."

"What about the creditcard?" Shizuma asked suspiciously.

"Using your creditcard to buy stuff and pay a month later would be cheating," Nagisa smiled softly. "So I had it blocked."

"You WHAT?" Shizuma sputtered.

"We've had to cut out on other luxuries too," Nagisa said. "So no more truffles, fancy chocolates, private massages or tenthousand yen bottles of shampoo. And, I'm sorry Shizuma, but I've had to get rid of the toilet paper too."

Shizuma blinked, bit her lip and then threw her head back. "NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo!" she wailed.

Nagisa quickly yet gently pushed her wife down and lay her head on Shizuma's belly to calm her down somewhat. Shizuma, in the meantime, was still trembling while trying to process that information. "But... four layers with air-cushions. So soft and delicate... So smooth..."

"We can only afford the two-layer version," Nagisa said. "But it has air-cushions too."

"Only two-layers?" Shizuma narrowed her eyes. "You might as well have hung sandpaper in the lavatory! You know how sensitive my bottom is!"

"Look, we all have to make sacrifices," Nagisa said. "I have to give up cakes for a month and even Maneki has to make do with cheaper catfood."

In the background, Maneki was carefully sniffing at the large dry lumps of catfood in her bowl. Unfortunately, the food was rather dusty and made her sneeze. As soon as she sneezed, she sent clouds of brown dust into the air. Maneki seemed offended by this and walked off with her nose in the air, never looking at the food again.

Shizuma, with Nagisa still lying on her stomach, watched the ceiling for a bit. "I still want to go out. How about a movie? That's cheap."

"Shizuma, I told you. With bills and groceries, we're out of money today. We can't afford even a visit to the cinema."

Shizuma sighed. "Alright, let's watch a DVD then. There's a rental shop two blocks from here."

"Again, money is an issue."

"Alright, miss smarty-pants," Shizuma challenged. "So why... don't we download a movie from the internet? Hah! Got you now! That's completely free and Takashi-kun showed me how to do it! I'll go get our laptop."

"Sorry, Shizuma," Nagisa bit her lip. "But we can't afford a broadband connection anymore. We had to revert back to dial-up, which is too slow for movie downloads and costs too much money to use for a long time."

"Oh, buu," Shizuma closed her eyes.

"Sorry, I guess we have to find something else to do."

Suddenly, Shizuma's pained grimace turning into a sultry grin. "Nagisa," Shizuma smirked. "I know something that's fun and free!"

Exactly four hours later, around midnight, an exhausted Nagisa broke away from Shizuma's embrace while they lay in bed. Her naked form drenched in rapidly cooling sweat, the blushing Nagisa rolled on her back and tried to catch her breath.

Shizuma, equally naked and drenched with sweat, rolled to her side next to Nagisa and started twirling the tips of her long fingers over Nagisa's belly.

"Shizuma," an exhausted Nagisa croaked. "Please, no more. I'm sore all over."

"And I'm covered with hickeys. But am I complaining?"

"I'm so tired," Nagisa sighed. "And we have work tomorrow."

"Perhaps you're right," Shizuma said while embracing her wife. "But I have to say: now I know why poor people have such big families."

"Why?"

"Because there's bugger else to do when you're poor."

* * *

Back at the Suzumi estate, Tamao had just changed into her nightrobe, removed her ribbons and had spent time brushing her hair. Her big room, the room where she had grown up in, was still one of the places in the world where she felt the most safe and secure.

Most of the room was dominated by a truly massive bookcase containing books in Japanese, English, German and French. And she had read all of them, some multiple times.

Behind her, her beloved Chiyo was already fast asleep. Though she looked so very innocent in her sleep, Chiyo was hardly the child she had been when she was younger. In her place now was a gentle and caring young woman, someone Tamao was glad to have in her life.

Though the room was dark, safe for a single light, Tamao didn't feel like going to sleep yet. She was a little too worked up about their first day, which had been a much greater success than she had anticipated. Perhaps should would finally be able to show up her brother, once in her life.

Tamao skimmed the book spines for something interesting to read before actually sleeping. She finally settled for the Japanese version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World', a gift from her grandfather when she had still been a child and a book which was partly responsible for her interest and love of literature. The leather-bound book itself was nearly falling apart from the many times it had been read, but it was still one of her most prized possessions.

As soon as she crawled into bed to read, however, Chiyo sensed her presence and curled up against her. She mumbled unintelligable in her sleep and started to hug Tamao.

Tamao looked upon Chiyo and smiled gently. She decided to put down her book, turned off the lights and returned the embrace, settling for holding her Chiyo instead.

For the first in a long time, Tamao felt happy. Truly happy. Chiyo had driven away the pain of losing Nagisa and given her even more.

"I love you, Chiyo-chan," Tamao whispered softly and kissed her beloved on the tip of her nose.

When she heard the sounds coming from the room next to her, Tamao quickly remembered another important accessory she had bought today : earplugs!

* * *

One room next to Tamao and Chiyo, both Yaya and Tsubomi lay panting in bed, exhausted from their previous fun.

Tsubomi was wearing her pair of cat-ears, now somewhat lopsided, and had lost one of her claw-mittens somewhere, while her hotpants and tail was hanging from the ceiling fan above them. Yaya herself was in a similar state, as most parts of her Revy costume were strewn on the floor, the fake tattoo was smudged and her wig was in danger of sliding off her head.

Still in a state of pure afterglow, Tsubomi turned her head to look at Yaya, causing her cat-ears to fall off completely. "Cosplay is awesome, isn't it?"

Yaya grinned back, not bothering to wipe the ink from the fake tattoo off her chin. "Hell, yeah!"

* * *

Next time - Shizuma and her adventures as a delivery-girl. :)


	4. Chapter 4 : Super Speedy Delivery Girl!

Hello everyone! Finally an update on this story. Lots of Anime references in this one. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Hello Work**

**Chapter 4 - Super Speedy Delivery Girl!**

Nagisa enjoyed a brief moment of peace away from the kitchen. Though Tamao's cafe had only been open for six days, it had been hectic and packed every single day. Thankfully, business was always slow before noon and there were only a few customers.

While Yaya was entertaining them with her rollerblade antics, Tsubomi was on kitchen duty. Tsubomi could certainly handle it alone for now. Sadly it was Saturday, so Tamao was expecting a swarm of customers later today. Nagisa was however determined to make the most of it.

She approached Tamao, who was diligently working her laptop behind the counter and briefly caught a glimpse of a filled out spreadsheet and an open Outlook message box in which Tamao was writing a message. Oddly enough, this message she was typing was in English and she was apparently telling someone how excited she was about how great her business was going. The name above the message seemed rather odd, though.

"Tamao-chan?" Nagisa asked. "Who's Glenn Quagmire?"

Tamao almost flew against the ceiling in shock, but recovered and quickly slammed her monitor down. "Uh, uhm," she stammered while twisting around to face a flabbergasted Nagisa while trying to shield the computer with her body if Nagisa would try to flip up the monitor again. "No-nobody. Just, uh, a friend I met on the internet. Yeah, certainly nobody I know, ha ha. We just mail sometimes."

"But there were dozens of mails from this Quagmire person in your mailbox and..."

"Sometimes we mail more than other days," Tamao said quickly and a tad too forcefully. "But enough about me. How are you, Nagisa-chan? You've been looking rather tired the past couple of days. I'm not making my poor Nagisa-chan work too hard, am I?"

"Don't be silly," Nagisa smiled briefly. "No, it's just... That bet I have with Shizuma. I mean, most of the money from our paychecks goes into the bills. We have a very big and costly house and without Shizuma's huge bank-account to rely on, it pretty much eats up our entire paychecks. So we eat very little, no heating, hot water, no internet or going out at nights."

"Being poor sucks, doesn't it?" Tamao nodded sagely.

"I know," Nagisa sighed. "I wish I had never thought of this bet. But I suppose it's important we both learn something from it. I dunno, but I'm having a much harder time dealing with it than Shizuma is. I didn't expect her to give up her morning cream-butter croissant so easily. Maybe it's just because I'm so tired."

"Lack of amenities can't be what's making you tired."

"Well, uhm," Nagisa blushed bright red. "There's... entertainment that's free. But very draining. Now I know why poor families have so many children. There's nothing else to do"

"Ah," Tamao giggled. "Chiyo-chan and I call those 'fringe benefits'."

Nagisa shook her head. "I love her to death, but Shizuma is just... insatiable.."

"I know what you mean," Tamao lowered her voice a little. "Chiyo-chan's just so cute and innocent. We're taking it one step at the time. No need to rush."

"Shizuma is also cute, but she's certainly not innocent," Nagisa shook her head. "Especially when she sneaks into the kitchen to surprise-grope me from behind."

Tamao smiled. "Well, at least she'll be away from you today. I've put her on deliveries today."

Nagisa snorted. "Are you *sure* that's wise? She's not exactly known for her sense of direction."

At that moment, Shizuma entered the room. And it certainly was a head-turner. Shizuma was ready for her deliveries and had donned the necessary outfit. She wore tight-fitting black spandex bicycle pants with red racing stripes and matching spandex tanktop. The outfit was complemented by a red bicycle helmet, red knee and elbow pads and a pair of stylish lady racing boots.

Nagisa and Tamao both felt their mouths go dry when she strode past with a spring her in her step. In the background, even Yaya turned her head to stare. Unfortunately for her, she was waiting tables on rollerblades at the time and didn't see where she was going. Poor Yaya ended up skating into the kitchen at full speed, and the sounds of pans and crockery falling to the ground, followed by an angry Tsubomi's shouting made clear what the end-result had been.

"Ready for work, boss!" Shizuma saluted, eager to get to work and perform her utmost.

"Errrmmm," Tamao stammered.

"Tamao-chan," Nagisa spoke with a touch of jealousy. "Shizuma's eyes are up there."

"I... know," Tamao said softly without looking up. "But my view is fine where I'm looking."

A smack to the back of the head brought Tamao back to reality. "Right, right, right! We have our first orders already and Tsubomi-chan will be finishing up the first batch soon. The bicycles are in the back and they should be ready to go."

"Alright," Shizuma said as she turned around and leaned against the counter. "Look at that! So cute!"

"Cute?" Nagisa asked and followed Shizuma's gaze. It centered on two young girls who had come in a few minutes ago and were waiting for their others. One of the girls, a shorter bluette named Konata, was animatedly regaling a taller, purple-haired girl called Kagami about the latest Castlevania game. They seemed to be very good friends.

"Look at those two girls. They're so gay for each other, but they don't know it yet!" Shizuma smiled softly. "Such an amazing adventure lies ahead of them. Just look at them. They're so going to fall in love in the future."

Shizuma's gaze drifted to two other girls. One was a brown-haired lithe girl called Yomi who was dressed in a school-uniform, the other a slightly older albino girl with red eyes called Mei dressed in a traditional Japanese Furisode. They spoke to each other in hushed tones.

"Geez, sexual tension much? Those two might start killing or kissing each other at any moment, whatever comes first."

"Are you sure?" Nagisa frowned. "Didn't Yaya-chan say that these two are cousins?"

Shizuma snorted. "Since when has that ever stopped anyone? Besides, look at Mei-san. She's even wearing a lily in her hair!"

"You're practically gushing!" Nagisa giggled. "You should see yourself in the mirror."

"Oh, I can't help myself!" Shizuma giggled. "Pre-lesbians are just so cute!"

Her eye caught another couple. A cute-looking sassy blonde called Kazama was quietly chatting with a tall athletic brunnete wearing glasses, called Sumi.

"And those two," Shizuma nearly swooned. "They just found each other. Isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen?"

Nagisa hooked her arm through Shizuma's and cuddled up against her slightly. "I love it when you get like this."

"What?" Shizuma smiled and kissed Nagisa's brow.

"All giggly and girly," Nagisa rubbed Shizuma's arm. "It suits you. You should do it more often."

A loud clang sounded from the kitchen, indicating a thrown pan. "Yaya-chan!" sounded angrily yet muffled from the kitchen. "You are only standing on that ladder so you can look down my shirt!"

"Right you are, Tsubomi-chan!" Yaya returned playfully. "Well spotted! Can't blame me for checking out the fine view."

"Ecchi! Hentai!"

Nagisa giggled. "My, my, my, Yaya-chan and Tsubomi-chan are breaking the kitchen again."

Just as Shizuma and Nagisa were about to check the kitchen, two very familiar faces stepped through the door. They looked around as if scanning their new and thus unfamiliar place for possible escape routes and finally settled for an empty booth next to the exit.

"Ah," Tamao approached the counter. "Shizuma-san? Before you leave for deliveries, will you take their order? It seems Yaya-chan is busy in the kitchen."

"Sure," Shizuma nodded and took off after a nod of thanks from Tamao.

Kaname and Momomi were sitting next to each other in the booth, talking quietly and acting rather more lovey-dovey than was usual for them. As soon as they spotted Shizuma, both did a double take. Shizuma could sense their eyes rove over her body for a moment before settling on her face.

"My, my, my, Shizuma-sama," Kaname smirked. "I knew you were working here, but I had no idea you were one of the serving wenches. And dressed like that... well, I had no idea this was that kind of place. Where's the pole?"

Shizuma took the barb in good humor. "Very funny, Kaname-san. I'll have you know I do those kind of dances for only one person in particular."

"Ah," Kaname replied. "Pity." The comment earned her a good-natured jab in the side from Momomi.

"It's good to see you, Shizuma-sama," Momomi said. "I'd like to order a sundae with two straws, please."

Shizuma whipped out a small notepad and wrote it down. "Two straws."

"We have something to celebrate," Momomi beamed, answering the unasked question.

"Momo-chan," Kaname admonished slightly. "Private information."

"I don't care if the whole world knows!" Momomi shot back before turning back to Shizuma. "It's our anniversary, actually. We've been together for eight years."

Kaname groaned for a moment. "Usually we're out of the country during our anniversary. We went to Dubai last year. But we had a, ahum, scheduling conflict right now, so... we're here and will celebrate in Paris as soon as our calendar allows it."

Shizuma smiled. "Well, congratulations anyway," she said, and noticed a subtle yet expensive necklace around Kaname's neck. Unlike Momomi, Kaname was not the type for jewelry, so she surmised it was a gift from Momomi.

"Very well, I'll bring your order right out," Shizuma said and moved to turn around.

"Wait," Kaname smirked. "I need a moment to wrap my mind around this. Shizuma-sama, Etoile, Queen of Queens, most respected and loved student and classmate in Astraea Hill... is our waitress. My life is complete."

"Yeah? Well don't get used to it," Shizuma replied with humor, yet enough force in her voice to make it sound like a threat.

"If it's not too much trouble, I would like a cuppachino as well," Kaname nodded. "With just a twist of milk. And no more than just a twist. I'll send it back if it's not just a twist!"

Shizuma wasted no more time and stepped into the kitchen. There, she found Yaya and Tsubomi liplocked up against the refrigerator, hands roaming freely.

"Better not let the Health Inspector see that," Shizuma spoke up, causing the two startled girlfriends to jump away from each other, each into a stack of pots.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Tsubomi defended.

"I was only doing Tsubomi-chan!" Yaya winked.

"Ecchi!"

"Well, when you've pulled up your pants," Shizuma winked, "fix me up a sundae with two straws. And a cuppachino for Kaname-san."

Tsubomi immediately went to work on the sundae while Yaya got to work behind the cuppachino machine.

"She wants just a twist. Not a twist. Just a twist."

"Kenjou? Is she here?" Yaya narrowed her eyes. "I know just the thing to complete this cuppachino."

Under Shizuma's bemused gaze, Yaya artfully applied a wad of spit to the coffee before adding the cream.

"YAYA-CHAN!" Tsubomi protested loudly. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Giving Kenjou-sempai what she deserves," Yaya smiled wickedly. "Just a twist."

"That's filthy, you can't do that!"

"Oh?" Yaya grinned. "It comes from the same mouth you were kissing two minutes ago. You weren't complaining then."

Tsubomi blushed slightly, but didn't break her resolve. "You still can't treat a customer like that!"

"Do you do that more often, Yaya-san?" Shizuma asked with a bemused smirk.

"Only when the customer is being a real bitch," Yaya nodded.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side," Shizuma nodded.

"Sweet angel," Yaya grinned to Tsubomi. "This is Kenjou Kaname we're talking about, remember? The person you happily walked up to on your first day at Spica to greet and who then responded by holding you upside down above the toilet with your head in the bowl."

Tsubomi thought for a moment. "Shizuma-sama? Would you be so kind as to serve Kenjou-sempai this fine cup of coffee?"

"It would be my pleasure," Shizuma replied. Two minutes later, Shizuma was standing at Kaname and Momomi's table and served the coffee.

Kaname took the cup for a lady-like sip. She let the coffee sit in her mouth for a moment before swallowing. "Hm, perfect," she smiled.

"Glad you're happy," she said, keeping herself from laughing by biting her lip and doing her best to ignore the muffled giggles coming from the kitchen.

Thankfully, Shizuma was rescued by Tamao, who gave her the address of her first delivery. Tamao had invested in some very fast mountain-bikes with the ramen-holders attached to the side of the back wheel so Shizuma was sure she would make good time. After loading the ramen and putting on her helmet, she was off.

* * *

Many of the street plans of the residential areas surrounding the centers of the larger Japanese cities had an odd design to them. They consist of an endless array of narrow streets running criss cross in seemingly random directions without any rhyme or reason to it. This was a design element to Japanese city building which ranged back to the days of Feudal times, when Japan was ruled by powerful warlords. The thought behind this that invading armies would have a hard time making it through the streets without being divided and confusing them so that they couldn't make a big push towards the fortress or palace in the middle, giving the defenders more time to prepare.

It was an interesting and quaint quirk to Japanese city planning, which had become tradition, even though Japan was now a unified nation and there were no more invading armies to be worried about. However, right now, this interesting and quaint quirk only served to piss off Shizuma considerably.

For the fifth time, she stepped off her bike to check the city map she had been given. She tried to look for any point of reference on the map, but she couldn't even find the name of the street she was in. She had passed the same playground for what felt like twenty times and still she could not find her bearings. Worse, the streets were all but abandoned and the only persons she could ask didn't know where the street she was looking for was either.

"Gaaaah!" Shizuma crumbled up the map in frustration and stuffed it in her pouch. It was a race against time as the Ramen in her delivery pack were rapidly cooling. She put her foot to the peddles and sped off on her bike.

She suddenly yelped as her long silver hair was pulled back violently. Shizuma and the bike tumbled to the ground at the side of the road, causing her to land flat on her belly with her bike lying on top of her. A quick inspection learned that her hair had been caught between the bicycle-chain and the back wheel. After freeing her hair and inspecting her now scraped and bloodied calves, she violently kicked the bike for good measure. She was not having a good day.

After a few minutes of recuperation, Shizuma was finally in luck: by sheer coincidence, she had managed to find the street she was looking for. The apartment building she was looking for was right there. Unfortunately, the living space she was looking for was near the top. Several staircases and cusswords later, Shizuma stood in front of the door of the Minami family who had ordered the ramen. The door opened.

"HappyTasty delivery service," Shizuma announced cheerfully. The young girl who had opened regarded her with undue scrutiny. She was a girl with light-colored and slightly unkempt hair, and seemingly wore a permanent scowl on her face. The girl's gaze burned right through her, and for a moment, Shizuma got the idea that the girl was gauging her level of intelligence.

Apparently satisfied, the girl nodded and held out her hand for the Ramen. "Thank you."

At that moment, a brown haired girl with pig-tails and a decidedly Genki attitude came running out into the hallways. "Chiaki? Is that food? IS THAT FOOD?" she called out as she skidded over the ground and lost track of her momentum. The girl slammed into the wall next to the door and slid down, ending up on her back.

"Kana!" the younger girl called Chiaki growled. "What did Haruka neesama tell you about running in the hallways?"

"That I should do it more often?" Kana replied while rubbing her forehead.

"That's the exact opposite of what Haruka neesama said, baka yaro!" Chiaki replied and bonked Kana on the head for good measure while Shizuma frowned in silence. "Kana will get you your payment, miss," Chiaki said to Shizuma.

After receiving her payment and saying her goodbyes, Shizuma found herself standing in front of a closed door. "What a rude little girl," Shizuma said to herself.

But she had no time to dwell. This mission was accomplished. Now all she needed to do was to return to base for debriefing and reloading. She stopped at a nearby vending machine for a sports drink. After consuming the disgustingly pink bottle of Pocari Sweat in record time, she returned to where her bike was parked.

As she was grabbing her bike, she suddenly got the distinct feeling that she was being watched. As an object of desire at Astraea Hill, this was an instinct which had been honed to perfecting. Of course, considering her attire, she had been leered at many times today by both sexes, but this felt decidedly different.

The source of this was an odd looking girl wearing an apron and a sadistic grin of knowing mirth on her face. The girl was standing on top of a small shed outside of the apartment building, and held in her hands a wooden ramen delivery box not unlike the one Shizuma had strapped on the side of her bike.

"Yes?" Shizuma asked. "Can I help you at all?"

The girl seemed stricken for a moment, but soon her resolve seemed to double.

"Having a voice which sounds like mine will not confuse me, enemy! I shall not falter!" the girl spoke, in a voice which did actually sounded a lot like Shizuma's, but without the serenity and grace.

"Uhm, enemy?" Shizuma asked.

"Silence, heretic!"

"Heretic?"

"Yes! For I, Onimaru Miki, shall kick your ass all the way back to the two-bit rat-infested noodle-shop you came from, silver-haired she-thief! Nobody delivers to this block except for me! Now prepare to suffer the consequences!"

"But..." before Shizuma could finish her protest, the girl pounced.

* * *

Chikaru was feeling a bit tired. She had been working on the costumes all morning, and hadn't slept well the previous night. Shion had been away to the Toumori estate, leaving her alone in a cold bed. It was something she simply wasn't used to anymore, sleeping alone.

She suppressed a yawn and put down her sewing kit. Perhaps it was better to stop for a moment before her fatigue would cause her to prick her fingers and get blood-stains on the costumes. As these were custom made and hard to wash, a blood-stain would be worse than a slightly loose seam.

Just as she was about to leave the backroom to fetch herself a cup of coffee from the kitchen, she felt two hands move up from her sides until they covered her eyes. "Guess who?" sounded a very familiar voice speaking a few octaves lower than usual.

"Hm, is that... Kagura-chan? Yuki-chan? Oh, that must be you, Tsuyika-chan. Don't worry, my love. Shion-koi will never find out about our amorous escapades at the love hotel," Chikaru said with an edge of humor on her voice.

"Oh, now you're just messing with my head," Shion sighed while Chikaru giggled. The two lovers shared a brief kiss before Shion sat down in the chair next to her. "Miss me?"

"Very," Chikaru smiled sadly. "How were things at your family estate?"

Shion looked away. She always did that when she had unhappy news.

"Shion-koi?" Chikaru asked.

"Chikaru-chan," Shion sighed heavily. "They want to postpone the wedding... again."

Chikaru groaned and buried her head in between her arms on the table in front of her. "What is it this time?" sounded her muffled voice.

"Floral arrangements," Shion shook her head. "My grandmother had thought to order lilies, while your father preferred red roses. They were bickering about it all the time I was there. Then there is a discussion going if Nagisa-san and Shizuma-sama can be bridesmaids or not because they are married. Your mom and my aunt did their best to keep things from escalating, but... I don't know. First it's one thing, then something else. If this keeps up..."

"Dammit," Chikaru narrowed her eyes. "This is the fifth time they postpone it for us! Why don't they ask what *we* want for a change! Why don't we just elope and make the best of it ourselves?"

"Hey," Shion took Chikaru's hand. "It'll be alright. I'm not saying I'm not angry too, it's just that they do want to make our wedding day perfect. Besides, you know we both love and respect our families too much to elope."

Chikaru nodded. "I know. It's just... news like this makes me want to curl up in bed with you, cuddle up under the duvet and watch some cool movies."

Shion shook her head. "Knowing your taste, they will not be cuddle-up romantic comedies but a range of horribly bad monster films."

"Hey," Chikaru smirked. "You haven't even seen 'The Thing'. If you are to become my wife, this must be remedied."

"The Thing, huh?" Shion said and leaned in for a brief kiss. "With a title like that, I shudder to think."

"No worries," said Chikaru softly. "You'll like it, it's very good. Great story, good acting. And Kurt Russell. Did I mention I used to have a crush on Kurt Russell when I was younger?"

"Whaaaa?" Shion blinked.

"Relax, I was four," Chikaru smiled. "I got it after seeing The Thing for the first time. I didn't know any better."

"You watched a disgustingly gory movie when you were four?"

"I watched it with my parents," she shrugged. "I don't scare easily. Besides, it were my mom and dad who had the sleepless nights, not me."

Shion shook her head. "Just when I think I know all there is to know about you, you throw me these kinds of curveballs."

"I like to be mysterious," Chikaru giggled.

* * *

"SHIZUMA!" shouted Nagisa in horror as her beloved wife entered the shop. Shizuma limped slightly as she walked, her hair was disheveled, her knees were bloodied and there were cuts and bruises all over the exposed parts of her body.

"Oh, my, what happened?" Tamao asked while helping a fretting Nagisa to seat her in the back room, away from the alerted clientele.

"I got in a fight," Shizuma said meekly while Nagisa quickly went to wet a rag to lay on Shizuma's forehead. "With a madwoman."

"W-what?" Nagisa blinked. "We have to go the police!"

"God, she was fast," Shizuma shook her head. "She punched me in the gut and tossed me against the ground, then she started wrestling me right there, pulling my hair, pushing me into the dirt. I'd be turned on if it hadn't hurt so much... and if I'd still be single."

"Uh-oh," Tamao spoke. "Don't tell me you ran into Onimaru Miki."

"Yeah, that's her. Why?"

"She's infamous at every restaurant that delivers," Tamao said. "She picks out a turf randomly for her mother's noodle-shop and defends it fiercely. She beats up delivery persons regularly. I'm sorry, Shizuma-san, I should have warned you about her."

"You mean, Shizuma got manhandled because of a silly territorial dispute?" Nagisa narrowed her eyes. "Come, Shizuma, we have to go to the police so we can get her arrested!"

"Oh, let it be," Shizuma said softly while Nagisa put the moist towelette on her wife's forehead. "Besides, it's not as if she got off scott-free."

"Oh?" Tamao asked.

"I escaped from her by biting her arm really, really hard and following it up with a punch to the her face." Shizuma said. "Then, I ran off. She chased me halfway across the street before I gave her the slip."

"Why didn't you get on the bike?"

"I did get on the bike," Shizuma replied. "She just ran that fast."

"Oh, sweetie, I'm just so happy you're safe," Nagisa said, still hugging her beloved fiercely. "Come on, let's get your wounds cleaned in the store-room."

Before Shizuma could respond, Nagisa helped her to her feet.

"Sit down here," Nagisa spoke softly while she led Shizuma into the storage room and sat her down on a folding chair. Shizuma did so and waited for Nagisa to fetch the first-aid kit.

"Now, hold still," Nagisa said after taking out the rubbing alcohol and poured a bit on a piece of cotton.

"Sure thing, Nightingale-san," Shizuma smirked, but grimaced when the alcohol touched her scraped legs. "Typical, isn't it? I wore all manner of protection except good pants. Figures."

"Sssh, you'll feel better in a moment," Nagisa said softly as she treated more scrapes on Shizuma's forearm. "You've cut yourself above your brow."

Nagisa straddled the sitting Shizuma to better reach her forehead. Shizuma took the opportunity to wrap her arms around her beloved and gently pull her towards her, making sure she was seated comfortably. "Feeling better already, Nightingale-san."

Nagisa giggled briefly, then started to apply balm to Shizuma's bruises. She smeared the balm onto the bruise and gently, very gently, started to massage the balm into the skin with two fingers. Nagisa treated her arm first, then Shizuma craned her neck slightly so that Nagisa could treat the big bruise on her collarbone.

Shizuma couldn't help but notice that her breath had quickened quite considerably. It had not gone unnoticed by Nagisa as well, considering her deep blush.

Her breath caught in her throat when Nagisa reach behind her tanktop to undo the zipper. "I, uh, need to check for bruises," she said softly. And while Shizuma's upper body was slowly being exposed, Nagisa noticed a rather big bruise on the upper slope of her left breast.

"Oh, that looks bad," Nagisa gasped.

"That Onimaru Miki girl hit me there with her noodle-box," Shizuma nodded.

"Does this hurt?" Nagisa said and gently pushed against the bruise.

Shizuma drew breath through clenched teeth.

"I'm guessing that's a yes," Nagisa nodded sadly and put a bigger dollop of balm on the bruise and gently started to smear it. Their faces were inches away from each other now, and their eyes locked. Soon enough, the massage of the bruise turning into the gentle cupping of Shizuma's entire breast, causing Shizuma to throw her head back and moan slightly. The massage continued unabatedly. Shizuma pulled Nagisa closer against her and pressed down her lips. Nagisa returned the kiss hungrily, while making sure she kept her hand on her wife's body.

"Nagisa-chan," Shizuma whispered into Nagisa's ear in between butterfly kisses all over her cheek, ear and neck. "What are your thoughts about sex on the workfloor?"

Shizuma got her answer when Nagisa reached over to the lock and snicked it shut.

* * *

Tamao checked her watch for a moment and wondered why two of her staff had been absent for so long. She'd been forced to ask Chikaru to help out with deliveries and Tsubomi and Yaya were making a mess of the kitchen having been unsupervised.

Yet another customer came to pay her bill and Tamao handled the transaction quickly, while preparing drinks for two more customers. In the midst of the chaos, Chiyo, wearing a classic maid outfit, brushed up against her for a brief hug and kiss. It was something which eased her mind greatly.

Then all of a sudden, the door to the back-room flew open and out came two flustered and animated girls. Nagisa kept her head low and blushed, as if attempting to deny what was obvious for everybody in the room, while a suitably bandaged Shizuma followed her wearing a big fat grin from ear to ear.

Even naive cute Chiyo had a stunned '_OH MY GOD They just totally had sex in there_'-look on her face.

"Ahum," Tamao crossed her arms and shook her head in an exasperated fashion. "If you two are quite done frolicking about in the store-room, I have deliveries to meet and a kitchen in need of supervising. In the future, I'd rather not lose two valuable staff members during peak hours on the grounds of hanky-panky, please."

"Sumimasen," Nagisa bowed low.

"Hey," Shizuma smirked. "I'm just doing my part at keeping those Sunday confessions of yours interesting, Nagisa-chan."

"I, uh, keep giving Father Yoshimo nosebleeds during my confessionals," Nagisa whispered softly. "They're interesting enough as it is. Tamao-chan? Am I fired?" Nagisa asked sadly.

"Never, all is forgiven," Tamao smiled. "But please don't do it again! Now, if you don't mind, I think Yaya-chan and Tsubomi-chan need help in the kitchen and we have tonnes of deliveries."

"I'm on it!" Shizuma mock-saluted. "I just need to make a quick visit to the office."

* * *

"Takashi! Oh, I'm glad you're in!" Shizuma said as she entered the office where Takashi was tapping away on his laptop.

The mild-mannered otaku looked up from his work. "Oh, yes, just working on the cafe's website. I got some pictures to make the site even more moe than it was before. Interesting outfit, Shiz."

"You gonna leer at me too, Takashi-kun?" Shizuma winked. "Like all the sexy girls out there do?"

"Don't flatter yourself, honey," Takashi's eyes shone with humor. "You are far too 3D for my tastes."

"Spoken like a true Otaku, my friend."

"Now, what did you need me for?" he asked.

It took Shizuma a while to explain her plan. About ten minutes later, they were standing next to Shizuma's car. Takashi had removed the GPS system from the dashboard and mounted it on top of the steering rod of Shizuma's bike.

"There you go," said Takashi. "One GPS system ready to go. I wired in the small back-up battery from my laptop to keep it all working, should keep you up for at least four hours. I've also configured the device to stick to normal roads so it won't send you up the freeway by accident."

Shizuma beamed and started piddling with the touch-screen device. "Perfect! This'll make life easy for me."

"Ah, just remember one thing, Shiz. The GPS system is wired into your car's electrical system, so it won't start without it. When you go home, you just slide the device back into the dashboard and it should all work fine."

"Thank you, Takashi. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Wander about aimlessly though the world and not being able to tell the difference between a Gundam and a Zaku? That's a fate worse than death," he winked.

"Quite," Shizuma nodded. "I think it's time to get started."

And get started she did. With the new GPS system on her steering wheel, navigating the labyrinthian streets was as easy as sin. Shizuma cycled back and forth between the cafe and her customers. Before long, she was doing all the deliveries of the day all by herself. Being in excellent physical shape, Shizuma continued till far after the sun had set. After doing a delivery that was reasonably out of the way, she arrived back at the cafe as it had just closed.

When she entered, she found Chiyo sleeping in a booth with her head on the table, while Tamao was still calculating figures behind the counter.

"Sorry that took a little long," Shizuma yawned. "You're not still here because you waited for me, I hope?"

"No worries," Tamao smiled. "I still had to do some bookkeeping."

It was then that Shizuma noticed a videocamera on a tripod aimed at Chiyo. "Are you... taping Chiyo while she's sleeping?"

"Yes I am," said Tamao, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "I want to preserve her cuteness for posterity."

"Okay..." Shizuma blinked.

"You worked hard today, Shizuma-sama," Tamao said and handed Shizuma two envelopes containing salary for the day. "The other one is Nagisa's, but she hitched a ride with Chikaru-kun and forgot to bring it with her. I sent home Yaya-chan and Tsubomi-chan when the kitchen closed."

Shizuma took the money. "Sunday tomorrow. Looks like I can take Nagisa someplace nice."

"Don't spend it all in one place," said Tamao as she collected a sleepy Chiyo while a car parked outside the door. "Enjoy your Sunday!"

After locking up, the Suzumi family butler helped to carry Chiyo into the car and they drove off to the family estate, leaving Shizuma on the curb. Proud of her earnings, Shizuma counted and calculated - even after buying food and subtracting living expenses, there was still something left. Not much, though.

This was incredibly frustrating to Shizuma. She was rich. Filthy rich, even. And suddenly here she was pushing against limitations for doing something as simple as taking her wife out for a night on the town. If only there was a way to get more money...

She grinned when she noticed a building in the distance lit by neon lights. How could this go wrong?

* * *

"Mushi mushi," sounded Nagisa from Shizuma's cellphone.

"Uhm, good evening, sweetie," Shizuma said uneasily as she sat behind the wheel of her car, still parked outside the cafe.

"Shizuma? Are you on your way home?"

"Not exactly," Shizuma replied. "Uhm, something came up. I, uh, made a bit of a mistake."

"Mistake?" Nagisa asked with worry. "Shizuma, is something wrong?"

"Well, uh, you know, I wanted to take you someplace nice tomorrow to celebrate the end of the week."

"Aw, that's so sweet!"

"But, uhm, there wasn't enough money for that. So, I figured, why not try to get more. Then I noticed this pachiko parlor across the corner and..."

"Pachiko?" spoke Nagisa, with a tone that let Shizuma know this was only the calm before the storm.

"... yeah, well, I like games and I'm good at them. But, uhm... I, uhm, it didn't quite work out the way I planned."

"... how... much... did you lose?"

"Kinda... all of it," Shizuma bit her lip.

Silence.

More Silence.

"Sweetie?"

"YOU GAMBLED AWAY OUR DAY'S SALARIES?"

Shizuma closed her eyes. Nagisa wasn't angry often, but when she was, she was a terrifying force of nature.

"... Kinda."

"I... DON'T... BELIEVE YOU!" Nagisa roared. "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO *EAT* TOMORROW? WE DON'T HAVE ANY FOOD!"

"I..."

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! I SWEAR, YOU ARE THE MOST IRRESPONSIBLE, CHILDISH..."

Shizuma grimaced while she held the phone away from her ear. Finally, when the roaring stopped, she put it back to her ear, only to hear a steady beep. Instantly, Shizuma redialed.

"Hey, honey," she said meekly. "I think we accidentally got disconnected and..." but before she could say anything else, there was a click and again that steady beep. Any further attempts to dial Nagisa resulted in a phone not getting answered.

Shizuma sighed heavily. Time for a long drive home and to face the music. Fortunately, Nagisa never stayed angry long. She turned the key... and nothing happened. Finding it odd, she tried again, until she noticed the gaping hole where her gps system used to be. She slapped her forehead and looked around for the device... before remembering it was still on the steering wheel of her bike. She slapped her forehead for a second time when she remembered her bike was now locked inside the storage area of the cafe.

Shizuma checked her watch. It was past midnight, so there'd be no more trains either. She had no money for a cab and Nagisa would not answer the phone. She would have to spend the night in a deserted city somehow.

She sighed heavily and leaned her forhead on top of the steering wheel. This was turning out to be a very bad day.

* * *

Next time - Shizuma's adventures with capsule hotels, Tsubomi's worries and Nagisa being chased.

References:

-Konata and Kagami from Lucky Star (duh)

-Yomi and Mei from Ga-rei Zero. Yeah, they're cousins, but that never stopped yuri before.

-Sumika and Kazama from Sasameki Koto

-Onimaru Miki from Muteki Kanban Musame - Coincidentally, Miki and Shizuma have the same voice-actress.

-Kana and Chiaki from Minami-ke.


	5. Chapter 5 : Clueless

Hey all,

Well, this is the last installment of Hello Work! But there will be more Stopani stories. Been taking a long time to update, but I finally got it through. Also, I'll be posting the next chapter of my claymore story somewhere tomorrow, hopefully.

Hope you like it!

* * *

**Hello Work!**

Chapter 5 - Clueless

At night, this simple Japanese city pretty much resembled a concrete jungle. The many pale concrete buildings which had been stamped out of the ground with relentless and consummate ease only added to the desolate landscape. Most windows were dark, adding ominous shadows to the skyline.

The only lights outside were from the streetlights and the many glowing neon signs outside shops which had been shuttered close. Not a soul was out at this time of night, and in this desolate landscape, Shizuma wandered aimlessly.

Without any trains running to get her home and without enough money for cabfare, Shizuma simply walked to pass the time. She had called Nagisa several times, but there was no answer. She gathered that Nagisa was still angry with her... and damn if that cute little red-head couldn't be downright frightening when she was angry.

Shizuma had spent some hour sitting on a park bench playing a game on her phone until a dead battery ended her entertainment.

Her stomach groaned as she passed an open 7-11 nightstore. Shizuma quickly entered, warmed herself at the counter and bought herself a cup of instant noodles for 200 yen. The shop's attendant, a very tired looking collage student, provided a bit of pleasant conversation while eating before Shizuma found herself on the streets again, wandering aimlessly.

The night was dragging on and on and Shizuma was starting to get really, really tired. She checked her watch and there was still the better part of the night to go.

Then, she passed a large building with a gigantic neon sign which read 'Capsule Hotel'. This also seemed to be the only part of the city where there was some activity on the street. She had heard from Yaya about these hotels. Apparently, these hotels were meant for salarymen, office workers and travelers who had been caught between the train schedule and needed a cheap place to spend the night. At the time, the two girls had dismissed it as one of the many peculiarities of Japanese modern culture. Right about now, however, spending 500 yen for sleep in a warm place sounded pretty good. And she'd still have enough money left for the train fare home tomorrow.

Wasting little time, Shizuma passed the salarymen gathered on the streets, paid her fee and was given the key to her very own capsule. The capsule was located on the third floor in a small hall. The hall contained a communal bathroom and small kitchen, as well as a storage bin for personal belongings. The room had about 10 capsules built horizontally into the wall, and Shizuma had one on the top.

After climbing the small ladder, Shizuma lay down on the mattress in the claustrophobia inducing cylindrical capsule. Aside from the mattress, the was a tiny overhead light and a TV built into the ceiling for entertainment.

For someone like Shizuma, who was used to the most luxurious of presidential suites in the most expensive hotels in the world. this experience was quaint to say the least. There was barely enough room to move, let alone turn in her sleep.

Deciding she wasn't comfortable enough for sleep yet. Shizuma turned on the TV hoping some mediocrity would help her with that. She flipped the channels. Porn. Porn. More Porn. CSI, CSI, even more CSI, yet more CSI, CSI porn...

Shizuma watched the CSI porn for a moment. "Detective, I need you to help me with my inhibitions," spoke a bubbly blonde in a horribly dubbed over voice.

"Eeew!" Shizuma exclaimed and switched off the TV quickly as the detective indeed started to help the blonde with her inhibitions. "Hetero sex is so icky!"

Thoroughly bored now, Shizuma switched off the light, lay on her side and sank in an uneasy sleep.

The next morning, Shizuma woke up with her hair wrapped around her neck twice and her arm twisted behind her back. After untangling herself from the ocean of hair, she slipped out of the capsule and every muscle of her body ached. Stiff as a board, she hobbled over to the bathroom to wash her face.

A young woman who was apparently an office lady, nodded at her to wish her a good morning. Shizuma returned the gesture.

"I've just decided," Shizuma smiled at the young woman. "That I'll be cremated instead of buried."

"I hear that," the young woman giggled.

Shizuma didn't know how quickly she got out of the building, but it was as fast as her stiffened legs could carry her. Putting the traumatic experience behind her, Shizuma walked off her stiff muscles as she made her way to the railway station. All she wanted right now was a hot bath, a long nap in her soft warm bed and Nagisa's soft lips on her neck, lips and other assorted bodyparts.

After rounding about the corner, one third of the equation was already in sight. Nagisa was standing in front of the station, near the entrance, with her friends Yaya, Tsubomi and Tamao. They were seemingly handing out flyers to passing people.

As she approached, Nagisa looked up. Her face changed from sad to insanely happy instantly. "Shizuma!" she shouted as she rushed towards her, dropping the flyers to the ground. "SHIZUMA!"

The smaller girl flew into Shizuma's arms, almost knocking her over. Shizuma spun around, carrying Nagisa with her before embracing her. "Wow, that's a warm welcome," Shizuma grinned. Only then did she notice that Nagisa's body was shaking from sobs.

"Nagisa?" Shizuma asked as her smiling friends rushed towards them, though Tamao seemed rather annoyed. "What's wrong?"

"I... I'm so sorry," Nagisa's tears ran freely as she crushed herself against her wife. "I got angry and left you standing in the city. I should have called someone. I should have helped you. And then when you didn't answer your phone, I..."

Shizuma cursed inwardly. Nagisa must have tried calling her after she had drained her battery playing games.

"Sssh, it's okay, it's okay," Shizuma ran her fingers through her hair.

"No, it's not okay!" Nagisa wailed. "What if you were hurt? You could have been mugged, or chased, or mauled or maybe even raped. And it would have been all my fault. I love you so much, I would never forgive myself if..."

And now Shizuma felt like an utter heel. It all came back to Shizuma foolishly gambling away their paychecks. She hugged the sobbing Nagisa a little tighter. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"There," said Chikaru as she put a hand on Nagisa's shoulder. "See? I told you everything would be alright, Silly Nagisa, letting your imagination toy with yourself like that."

"Wow," Yaya whispered to Tsubomi. "I bet those two have fantastic make-up sex."

Tsubomi scowled. "Is everything always about sex with you? Why do you always have to be so..."

"Slutty?" Yaya smirked.

"Yaya!" Tsubomi admonished. "Do not speak of yourself in such a negative way."

Yaya smirked and made a grab for Tsubomi's waist. "Why not? I love being a slut. But only with you."

"Yaya-chan!"

Yaya bent forward and whispered in her ear. "You weren't complaining last night. And the night before that. And the night..."

"Alright, alright!" Tsubomi blushed. "The point is made," she muttered meekly.

In the background, Shizuma suddenly groaned. "Oh, god, why didn't I just text Takashi! Stupid!" Shizuma effectively face palmed herself. "He could have picked me up. Or Shion. Or you, Chikaru."

"Well," Chikaru shrugged. "I didn't want to say it with so many words, so I'm glad you were the one to bring it up."

"Let's just go home," Nagisa kissed Shizuma on the lips.

"Good idea!" Yaya smiled. "Come on, Tsubomi-chan, let's get back to our big bed at Tamao-chan's family mansion and make good use of it."

Tamao looked at Shizuma and shook her head disdainfully for a moment. Shizuma looked up and met her eyes. The two girls would never be friends and their relationship could be described as cordial at best. However, considering what Nagisa had just gone through and the fact that Shizuma was responsible, gave her little reason to return Tamao's stern glare with one of her own. So, Shizuma did something Tamao had never, ever seen her do - Shizuma bowed her head submissively.

"Come on," Shizuma told Nagisa. "Let's go home."

* * *

Shizuma and Nagisa had spent a lovely quiet Sunday at home, simply enjoying each others company. With no money to go out or do something special, they simply hung out on the couch to lazy about or to talk, and had managed to slap together a dinner from all manner of left-overs they had in their larder. And most of the evening had indeed been spent with stupendously good make-up sex.

The next day was again a working day. The girls had arrived early to prepare for the day. Chikaru had just finished outfitting the girls with their costumes while Yaya had headed into the kitchen to prepare the oven. The cafe was about to open an already there were customers waiting outside the door.

Having been doing a lot of cleaning inside the kitchen, Tsubomi headed into the rec-room for a short break. Tsubomi found another person siting in the rec-room. Chikaru was quietly reading a book. She looked up briefly and nodded in greeting. In all actuality, Tsubomi had hoped to find Chikaru here.

Tsubomi sat opposite to her and looked at the title. She saw it was an English book with an English title. "H.P. Lovecraft?"

"Yes," Chikaru put down her book. "I'm re-reading The Shadow over Innsmouth. It's one of my favorites."

"But aren't those books all frightful? And don't they always end up with characters dying or going insane at the end of the books? "

"Yeah, great isn't it?" Chikaru smiled broadly.

Tsubomi blinked. "You really are a dark horse, Chikaru-chan."

"I get a sense you're not here to talk about Lovecraft's astounding works of fiction," Chikaru winked.

Tsubomi nodded. Chikaru was, if anything, extremely perceptive Tsubomi shifted slightly and avoided Chikaru's gaze.

"It's about..." Tsubomi bit her lip. "I mean."

"Yaya-chan is graduating soon, isn't she?" Chikaru said. "I hear she's been admitted to a good university."

"Yes," Tsubomi nodded. "She's going to study English, Western culture and history."

"She told me, yes," Chikaru smiled. "A far cry from her family history."

Tsubomi looked up, not even surprised Chikaru already knew. Yaya's choice might seem odd, but her family owned a great deal of the real-estate in Tokyo's central business district. Yaya's older brothers would inherit the business, so Yaya would not have a care or a want in the world and could do whatever she wanted. Tsubomi, on the other hand, was an only child. Her parents, newspaper moguls, had expectations of her, but in the end Tsubomi herself was her own harshest critic.

"I want to make it work, I want to be with Yaya-chan," Tsubomi said resolutely.

"But you're worried what will happen now that Yaya will be going away to university while you still have two years of Astraea Hill ahead of you," Chikaru said. "Am I right?"

Tsubomi closed her eyes. Was she really that obvious, or was Chikaru just really perceptive?

"I..." Tsubomi closed her eyes. "I was just thinking... I mean... Yaya-chan... She's wild, f unloving and popular... What if... I... Another girl... I won't be able to handle if she..."

"Hey," Chikaru said in the softest voice she could muster and gently put her hand on Tsubomi's. "Yaya-chan flirts a lot with the customers, doesn't she?"

Tsubomi nodded sadly.

"And the costumers flirt a lot with her. She's given a lot of phonenumbers, doesn't she?"

Tsubomi nodded again, even more sadly.

"But has she ever called even one of these numbers?" Chikaru asked.

Tsubomi shook her head. "No. No, she hasn't."

"Has she ever shown any romantic interest in any girl except you?"

"N-no."

"Tsubomi-chan," Chikaru smiled that warm smile of hers. "Yaya-chan is crazy about you. Just like Shizuma-chan was crazy about Nagisa-chan. And they made it work. There were no other girls. And now they're married."

"I suppose I shouldn't be worried," Tsubomi smiled. "It's just... I love Yaya-chan so much and I need her. Just the thought of..."

Tears started to roll over Tsubomi's cheeks. "I should trust her more."

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around Tsubomi's waist and a soft body pressed against her back. "My, my," smirked Yaya. "Tell me how much you love me and need me again."

Tsubomi blushed profusely. "H-how long were you listening?"

"Long enough, my paranoid little darling," Yaya smiled. "You have nothing to worry about."

However, Tsubomi's mood turned sour faster than a formula-1 racecar taking a turn. "How dare you listen in to private conversations! Yaya-chan, you are rude and insufferable!"

Yaya blinked, then smirked. "I'd call you a tsundere. But you were more like a Deretsun just now."

"I AM NOT A TSUNDERE!" Tsubomi yelled and started chasing after her beloved Yaya, who just giggled and ran out the door.

Chikaru laughed briefly and shook her head while picking up her book again. "Ah, I remember being that young."

* * *

Later that day, the place was once again packed. Girls of all walks of life and ages were enjoying the food and the company of other women. It was no joke that the number of customers was steadily increasing. Tamao was feeling a bit stressed as she was working the counter. She looked into the crowd and saw the girls serving the customers. Aside from her friends, she had hired several other servant girls. With the profits she was making, she could easily afford it and it would give her friends some breathing space. Though at this very moment, it wasn't helping much.

Shizuma, dressed up as Lala from To Love Ru complete with fake tail and pink wig, slammed into the counter. "Tamao!" she panted. "More and more orders. And it's not even rushhour yet! Look at Nagisa!"

Nagisa, dressed up as Mio Akiyama, was walking back and forth between tables taking orders. It was easy to see that she was stressed to the bone and was losing track of who ordered what.

"Okay," Tamao said, going into manager mode. "Tell Nagisa-chan that she needs to take a break, and tell Aki-chan that she and Shiina-chan need to cover the tables in A-wing. Also, ask her to tell Yaya-chan and Tsubomi-chan in the kitchen to fix the ventilation hood above the stove as quickly as possible or we'll have all the cooking scents wafting into the customer area!"

"Aye, aye, mein manager," Shizuma joked and rushed into the crowd.

"Gods above, I never knew there were so many lesbians living in this city," Tamao said. Word of mouth and internet advertisement had really gotten her business going. It seemed lesbians were just as eager to be served by gorgeous girls in cosplay as the otaku were. Hell, most of these girls were otaku lesbians to begin with.

Tamao had insisted on a steady rotation of the maids working the cafe to make sure that nobody would burn out. But now she was severely hoping that the girls on break would return soon so that she could have some rest herself.

Tamao was so busy working the cash register than she failed to notice three men entering the cafe. Her snot-nosed brother Reji, her kindly and largely built brother Sumiyoshi and another man, middle-aged and bigger than Reji while smaller than Sumiyoshi.

"Ahum," said the middle-aged man as he approached the cash register.

"I'll be with you in a minute, I apologize for making you wait," Tamao said and looked up... and gasped. "FATHER!" she exclaimed happily.

"Tamao-chan," her father said appreciatively as he looked at the many customers in the cafe. "I see you are doing well."

Tamao nodded vigorously. "My staff is overworked, though. But we're doing the best we can."

"Don't apologize," her father said. "But where is the charming Chiyo-chan?"

"She probably ran away with some boy," Reji smirked. "Seriously, Tamao-chan always falls for the straight girls. Give it up already and find a boyfriend. Stop being weird."

Tamao gritted her teeth and balled her fists, but let her anger pass. She would not rise to his bait.

"Reji!" Tamao's father narrowed his eyes. "What did I tell you about making fun of your sister's sexual preference?"

Reji grumbled while Sumiyoshi laughed and winked at Tamao.

"Don't say that's a real relationship," Reji scoffed. "I've seen them around our mansion. Tamao-chan treats her like a porcelain doll, not a person. If I were Chiyo-chan, I'd get the hell away from that."

"Uhm, Reji?" Sumiyoshi admonished. "Nee-san is standing right in front of you."

"Well, Reji does have a point," her father spoke. "You're like a Buddhist monk around her. Have you even kissed her yet?"

Tamao's blood shot to her cheeks. "Father," she hissed. "Not here, please."

"You really should kiss her," her father shrugged. "It'd be a shame if Chiyo-chan'd lose interest in you because you're ignoring her. She's such a nice girl."

"I bet Tamao-chan is taping Chiyo-chan while she's sleeping," Reji smirked.

"That's unfair!" Tamao snarled at Reji, but then looked away. "Besides, I only did that once."

An awkward silence followed for a couple of moments, but then Tamao's father stepped forward. "Tamao-chan," said her father. "I know you still have one week to go until the month is through, but I wanted to come down and tell you in person that I am so very impressed. This is the fastest growing Happy Tasty theme restaurant since we've started and the figures don't lie."

Tamao needed a few moments to wrap her head around this information. But when she did, she ran from behind the counter and jumped in her father's arms.

"Tamao-chan, my girl," he said. "I am so proud of you."

And that's what this was all about. Even though running a Happy Tasty was a family right of passage, it was even more important for those who did not want to follow in the family footsteps and strike out on their own - it was to prove to themselves and their family that they had greatness inside of them which could be used to make something of themselves.

"I want to be a writer," she said again, for good measure, knowing full well that her father had never approved of that before. "I really want to be a writer. I know I can be a good one."

Her father nodded while hugging her back. "You've proven to me you have what it takes to creature success. I will give you my full support."

"Well done, nee-san!" Sumiyoshi clapped his sister on the shoulder.

"Ridiculous," Reji fumed.

Meanwhile, more people entered. Shizuma, who had been standing in the background, moved in to show them to their seats.

"Now, does the manager have time to show her old man around this successful place?"

"Certainly," Tamao said, beckoning over Shizuma. "Shizuma-san, will you take care of the cash register for a moment?"

Shizuma agreed to do so, and Tamao led her family into the back rooms, where the operation took place. As first she showed her 'the command center' from which girls on bikes would operate to make deliveries all over town. Afterwards, she led them to the lounge, where Chikaru and Takashi were sitting.

"This is Chikaru-chan, our costume designer who is putting the finishing touches on her latest masterpiece. And that otaku behind the laptop is Takashi-kun, our webmaster and technical advisor."

Polite nods, bows and brief conversation followed during which Takashi told them all about the vagaries of running a website. Tamao then led her family into the kitchen. Yaya, Tsubomi and two hired girls were working the kitchen at that moment. However, Tsubomi had donned a heavy toolbelt and was standing on a ladder while trying to dislodge the grate underneath the air filtration system above the main stoves.

"Ah, your delightful friends," her father smiled, as both Yaya and Tsubomi stayed at his mansion.

"Hey sugar-daddy!" Yaya greeted with a wave of the arm.

"Yaya!" Tsubomi scowled. "Don't be so rude to our host!"

"Very loud, very vulgar friends," Reji muttered under his breath.

"You only say that because they know how to have fun," Sumiyoshi smirked, making Reji scowl.

As Tamao was telling her father about the goings on in the kitchen, Reji turned to Yaya. "What I don't get about your lesbian couples. Who's the man? I mean, there has to be a man, right?"

Behind him, Sumiyoshi face palmed and shook his head, while Yaya smirked slightly, deciding to have a little fun.

"Well," Yaya said. "I am here cooking and Tsubomi-chan is wearing a toolbelt. Do the math, genius."

"What?" Tsubomi jumped down from the ladder to confront. "I AM NOT A MAN!"

"Yes you are," Yaya crossed her arms. "You are my man. You are my big strong hairy macho-man."

"I AM NOT A MAN!" Tsubomi shrieked and started slapping at Yaya.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" Yaya giggled. "Waifu-battering! Waifu-battering!"

Tamao's father laughed at their antics, while Reji shook his head. "Such delightful girls," he said.

"Don't worry," Sumiyoshi said. "The maids say they have great make-up sex."

"They have obnoxiously loud make-up sex," Reji scoffed.

Sumiyoshi shook his head. "You only say that because they have more fun in their pinky finger than you have in your entire body."

"You should say that about Tamao-chan," Reji crossed his arm. "Oh wait, the only reason why she can't have fun is because she has fallen for a straight girl. AGAIN!"

Anger exploded through the core of Tamao's being yet again. As long as she had known him, Reji had belittled her. And she was tired of it, so very tired of it. She made a decision - she had nothing left to prove. She had nothing left to fear. Her dream of becoming a writer was closer than ever. So she was going to make love to Chiyo tonight. That is, if Chiyo wanted her to.

Tamao led her family back to the rec-room where they found Nagisa sitting at the table. She had removed her wig and looked rather exhausted while Shizuma had given her a glass of water.

"Ah, here's Tamao now," Shizuma said. "Nagisa is suffering from a bit of sensory overload, so I'm giving her my break-time. I'll take over from her for a bit."

"So many customers," Nagisa muttered. "so many orders."

Tamao was immediately concerned, but as she was about to sit down opposite to Nagisa, Reji practically bumped her out of the way and sat down, taking Nagisa's hand.

"Tamao, how dare you overwork a goddess such as her?" Reji admonished. "Is this revenge for her spurning your affections? Honestly, you are a vile person."

Both Sumiyoshi and Tamao's father raised an eyebrow at this and Tamao looked as if she was about to explode. But she apparently counted to ten and let it pass.

"Are you alright, Nagisa-san?" he asked, holding her hand and looking her into the eye. "Perhaps my company will make you feel better."

Nagisa was startled when she noticed Reji leering at her and touching her. She looked at Shizuma for help, but unfortunately miss clueless was in town.

Shizuma smiled broadly at Reji. "Thank you for wanting to keep Nagisa company," she said with a little bow of the head.

"S-shizuma?" Nagisa said, a little nervous.

"I'll be back soon, sweetie," smiled Shizuma. "This nice man will keep your mind occupied until then."

"Shizuma?" Nagisa bit her lip, pleading to her to stay, while Reji looked at Nagisa expectingly.

"Have fun you two!" Shizuma waved as she headed back into the cafe.

"SHIZUMA!" Nagisa yelled after her, but her pleas of desperation were drowned out by the many customers.

Meanwhile, Sumiyoshi leaned towards Tamao. "Shouldn't we warn him that Nagisa-san actually belongs to Shizuma-san?"

A vengeful twinkle appeared in Tamao's eyes. "Let him crash and burn," she winked as she led her family to a table on the other side of the room to discuss some business details.

"So, uh..." Reji started. Now that he had finally had the beauteous Nagisa all to himself nerves started to kick in. Meanwhile, Nagisa was too stunned and horrified to do what she most wanted to do - run away screaming.

"Uh..." Nagisa bit her lip.

"Uhm, that really is a rather smashing blouse you have on."

"Uhm, it's a sweater."

"Oh, is it?"

"Uhm, yes."

"Well... that really is a rather smashing sweater you have on," Reji stammered.

An awkward silence followed. "So, uhm, you go to school?"

"University."

"Ah..."

More awkward silence.

"Uhm, you know... I earn a lot of money and I have a big inheritance coming... eventually. Girls like men with lots of money, right?"

"Some. I guess," Nagisa shrugged, still avoiding his eyes.

"I, uh, could take care of a beautiful girl, you know."

"Nice to know."

"Do you like men with lots of money?"

"I dunno. I always like having new friends, but money doesn't really factor into it."

"Ah, I, uh, think you misunderstand me."

Nagisa gulped.

Reji tried his sexiest smile... he failed. "Are you a great kisser?"

"I beg your pardon!" asked Nagisa, a little insulted. "That's... rather a private question. And I think you got the right idea. You see, Shizuma and I..."

"Well," Reji bit his lip. "It's kinda important if you are to be my girlfriend."

Nagisa blinked and started looking for an escape route. "I, uh, I am not sure what you mean."

"Don't play coy!" Reji pressed. "You're screaming for it, I can see it in your eyes."

"Don't look at my eyes!" Nagisa wailed. "You're frightening! Besides, Shizuma..."

Reji took Nagisa's wrists. "Dance with me then! Dance the dance of lovers to be!"

"I don't even know you!" Nagisa wailed and looked at Tamao for help. Sadly, her best friend only gave her a thumbs up and a sly giggle.

Nagisa decided to back away from the booth and slowly make her way to the door. "Look, uhm, I'm sure you're a nice guy and all, but I'm just not..."

"... the right girl for me?" Reji smirked. "Nice of you to say, but you are quite the lovely little porcelain doll. You're top notch girlfriend material, Nagisa-san. So sweet, innocent and virginal."

At that moment, Nagisa wanted to blurt out that she hadn't been a virgin for years, but caught herself just in time to spare her the embarrassment. Nagisa then backed into a wall and found Reji stepping toward her, the wish for a kiss clear on his face. Nagisa was about to scream.

Just then, Reji's emotional moment was rudely disturbed by Shizuma popping up through the door. There was sheer relief in Nagisa's voice as she snaked away from Reji and threw her arms around her beloved.

"Look," Reji spoke, a little annoyed. "Do you mind?"

Reji was ignored. Instead, Shizuma and Nagisa locked lips together and settled in a rather passionate kiss, stunning Reji into submission.

"W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-whaaaaatttttt?" Reji blinked. "But... But... But..."

"Thank you for keeping my wife company during a difficult moment," Shizuma said. "I see she's feeling better now."

"Y-y-your wife?"

"Shizuma and I are married," Nagisa said. "I'm sorry. I tried to tell you several times, but you wouldn't listen."

Reji sputtered like a fish on dry land. "But... I... But... you... Shizuma-san... Tamao... But..."

Quick as a flash, a smug looking Tamao appeared next to Reji. "Nii-san," Tamao grinned wickedly. "I know you've been trying to score a girlfriend for years now, but woe is you... you keep falling for gay girls."

"HAH!" sounded Sumiyoshi from the table while their father snickered. "Slam! Dunk! Score!" he said as he high-fived Tamao.

White as a sheet, Reji let out a cry of frustration and ran out of the rec-room. Shizuma and Nagisa watched him run, and Shizuma looked at her wife quizzically. "Is he alright? He seems upset."

"He wanted me to be his girlfriend," Nagisa nodded. "But was kinda upset to find me taken."

"Hm, that's weird," Shizuma scratched her head. "How could he not see you are a lesbian? I mean, I could tell right away."

"Some people are just clueless."

"Yep," Shizuma said. "I'm glad I'm not clueless, though."

* * *

"God, I'm tired," Shizuma said after she and Nagisa arrived home in the evening and tossed her duffel-bag on the table. It was their last day at work and after tomorrow the regular staff would taking over the cafe. "But still, I'm kind of sad it's over."

Nagisa nodded. "Yeah, I think it's safe to say you won this bet," she giggled and shook her head. "I'm impressed."

Nagisa walked to a small cupboard, unlocked it and took out a small leather sleeve. She smiled and handed the sleeve to Shizuma.

Shizuma's eyes grew wide as she opened the sleeve to reveal... her credit card. "Oh my sweet!" she closed her eyes for a moment as she clutched the piece of plastic to her chest. "I missed you so!"

Both Shizuma and Nagisa plopped down on the couch, where Nagisa quickly curled up against her wife. "You handled yourself a lot better than I thought you would. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"It was a learning experience," Shizuma shrugged.

"And what did you learn?"

"Being poor really sucks."

Both girls giggled at that statement and nodded in agreement.

"You know," Shizuma said. "I never meant to make you feel comfortable using my money. I mean, it's only a means to an end. I want to make you happy, Nagisa. The money's just a catalyst."

"I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time over it," Nagisa smiled as she lay her head on Shizuma's tummy. "I know you mean well."

"If anyone ever accuses you of being a gold-digger, I am going to... well, I don't know what I'll do, but it'll probably be violent," Shizuma nodded. "Yes, quite violent."

Nagisa giggled briefly. "So, did Shizuma learn the value of earning money?"

Shizuma nodded. "Yes. Yes, I do. I felt like a real idiot after gambling our money away. I mean, we worked for it all day and then... poof, it's gone."

"Shizuma?"

"Hm?"

"Should we do something to celebrate?"

"Wait a moment," Shizuma winked. "I won that bet, didn't I? I want to collect my winnings!"

Nagisa stretched and looked up into Shizuma's eyes. "And what does Shizuma-sempai have in mind, hm?"

"Well," Shizuma thought for a moment. "Either you on our bed completely naked with a rich supply of strawberries and chocolate sauce or... the both of us putting those nurse costumes Chikaru made to good use."

"I could go for a strawberry... or two," Nagisa winked. "But on one condition."

"Name it," Shizuma grinned.

"You have to wear that black leather bomberjacket of yours... and nothing else," Nagisa blushed slightly.

"Deal," Shizuma said as Nagisa stood up and strolled into the bedroom. "Oh, crap. I just remembered. We don't actually have strawberries or chocolate sauce."

"Well," Nagisa said while popping her head out of the bedroom. "I suggest you go to the shop and get some."

Shizuma barely had time to yelp before Nagisa's shirt was thrown over her head from the bedroom. And when Shizuma had freed herself, she found another piece of clothing flying towards her. Nagisa's bra landed in her lap.

Needless to say, Shizuma walked to the nearby delicatessen-shop with faster-than-usual pace. It wasn't even dark yet, nor overly cold so a brisk walk would do her some good. Besides, she liked the way Nagisa would yell out whenever she pressed her cold cheek against Nagisa's stomach.

On her way there, Shizuma passed her favorite flower-shop. It was an old mom and pop store, though the pop half of the couple running it had passed away last year. Noomi, the old lady who ran the shop stood outside of the windows brushing the sidewalk with a broom and greeted Shizuma warmly, a gesture which Shizuma returned. However, as she was passing, she couldn't help but notice a sign in the window which read 'Help Wanted'.

"Noomi-san?" Shizuma stopped in her tracks. "Are you having trouble."

"Oh, Hanazono-sama," Noomi said. "I am getting on in years, but don't worry about me. It's just for the Saturdays when my son can't help me out lugging the pots and crates."

Shizuma thought for a moment. Now that she no longer worked at the cafe, she found herself with a lot more free time and wondered what she could do with it. Study was not an issue as she was breezing through University with minimum effort for maximum result, like she had done at Astraea Hill. She could hang out with Nagisa or friends, sure, but Takashi and Nagisa did spend more time on their studies than she did. And this was her favorite flower-shop. The wonderful smells always made her smile.

"I'll do it!"

Noomi blinked. "Y-you? But... it's hard work for such a delicate woman such as yourself."

"Delicate?" Shizuma winked. "I'll have you know that these are fencer's arms."

Shizuma flexed, showing off some rather less-than-impressive musculature.

"I can't afford to pay you much," Noomi said. "But then I guess that's not really a problem for you, is it? Alright, Hanazono-sama, you've got yourself a job."

"Great! See you Saturday, boss," Shizuma saluted and continued on her way while a smiling Noomi stepped back in her shop to take down the sign.

Shizuma was very satisfied with herself - not only was she helping out a person who needed help, but she'd get to spend time in that wonderful flower shop. And to make the day even greater, Nagisa was back at their beautiful home underneath the sheets wearing nothing but a smile. Life was wonderful.

Suddenly, however, her phone rang.

* * *

Nagisa stretched when she heard the front door open from the bedroom. During the time Shizuma had been away, she had taken the liberty of making the bedroom more romantic. She had put up half a dozen candles which were now bathing the room with their light and had also lit some sweet smelling incense. A small portable CD player had been set read and was playing soft piano music in the background.

She herself had slipped into a silk bathroom with a loosely tied ribbon keeping it around her body, perfect for unwrapping. Nagisa lay on her side, flashing her best 'Ready to Play!'-seductive smile as Shizuma stepped towards the room.

"I hope you didn't forget about that bomber..." the words caught in Nagisa's throat when Shizuma shuffled into the room. She could immediately see something was wrong. Shizuma looked white as a sheet and had a dazed look in her eyes.

"Shizuma," she whispered, jumped up and rushed to embrace her. "What's wrong. Tell me what's wrong."

"I-it's..." Shizuma trembled. "I... just had a phonecall."

Nagisa looked up. "Tell me."

"It's... it's dad," she choked. "My father..."

Nagisa felt tears well up in her eyes. Hanazono-san was the nicest man Nagisa had ever known, and Shizuma was absolutely crazy about him. If something awful had happened to him... Nagisa didn't want to think about it. Shizuma might even sink into the same pit of depression again which she had fought so hard to get out of.

"Shizuma," Nagisa said, taking Shizuma's chin and looking her in the eyes. "What happened to him?"

"He... he's getting re-married."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Tamao's family mansion, the big bed in Tamao's room now contained two starry eyes girls hugging each other tightly as they recovered from the nervousness and passions of making love for the very first time.

"Tamao onee-sama?" asked Chiyo softly.

"Hm?" asked Tamao as she gently kissed the nape of Chiyo's neck.

"Will we always be together?"

"Yes," Tamao whispered softly. "We will always be together. And every time we make love, it'll be just as wonderful as it was this night."

A gentle kiss followed.

"Tamao onee-sama?" asked Chiyo again.

"Hm?"

"Why did you want to have that camera here?" she said and pointed at the large video camera aimed at the bed.

"I, uhm, wanted to document our first time for, uh, archival purposes," Tamao looked away for a moment.

"Tamao onee-sama? Another question?"

"What is it, Chiyo-chan?"

"If we do it again tonight," Chiyo said. "Could you ask Yaya-chan and Tsubomi-chan to stop putting a glass against the wall to listen in on us?"

A muffled protest sounded from the other side of the wall. "Hey, we weren't listening in!... Uh... Oh, crap."

"Nice going, Yaya-chan!" sounded another muffled voice from the other side of the wall, following by the bonk of someone being bumped on the noggin with a balled fist.

"No problem!" Yaya yelled from the other side of the wall. "Continue with the sex, please!"

"YAYA-CHAN!"

* * *

Well, sorry to end with a cliffhanger, but it served to let you know more is coming. Hope you liked the story in the end. :)

The story will be continued in Strawberry Weddings.


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